CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - A federal appeals court Thursday upheld
a Nevada law that bars legal brothels in some rural areas of Nevada
from advertising in Las Vegas, Reno and other places where
prostitution is illegal.

In a 2-1 decision, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in
San Francisco refused to reconsider a decision handed down earlier
this year.

The laws had been challenged by the ACLU, a Nye County brothel
called the Shady Lady Ranch and two newspapers: the High Desert
Advocate and Las Vegas City Life.

Prostitution is illegal in Clark and Washoe counties - which
include Las Vegas and Reno - and three other Nevada counties. Ten
Nevada counties authorize prostitution by local ordinance.

Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto hailed the latest
ruling.

"This state has had restrictions on brothel advertising for 40
years," she said in a written statement. "Nevada should have the
right to have reasonable limitations on this type of activity."

The 9th Circuit panel in March reversed a ruling by U.S.
District Court Judge James Mahan in Nevada that two 1979 state laws
prohibiting brothel advertising in counties where prostitution is
illegal were overly broad and unconstitutional.

The laws also prohibit brothel advertising in theaters and on
streets and public highways.

The 9th Circuit noted in its ruling that Nevada was unique among
states because it has a "nuanced boundary," rather than total
criminalization of prostitution.

But the state still seeks to confine the sale of sex acts
through licensing and advertising restrictions, the judges said,
concluding that Nevada laws "appropriately limited commercial
speech."