An unconstitutional exemption

A judge in Kentucky has struck down an effort by the Louisville Metro Council to impose a citywide smoking ban.

And supporters of a similar prohibition imposed last year by voters on Nevada’s bars and taverns should hope the judge never gets elected in the Silver State.

Jefferson Circuit Judge Steven Ryan tossed out the Louisville law because it created an exemption for Churchill Downs, the thoroughbred race track that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby.

The ban had replaced a less-strict policy that allowed smoking in restaurants and bars that generated most of their revenue from booze. But when the new standard went into effect, a group of local restaurant owners went to court.

“Only after voting that Churchill Downs would keep its exemption did the Council pass the Smoke Free Law; the converse of this fact is that the Council would not have passed a Smoke Free Law devoid of said exemption,” Judge Ryan wrote in declaring that the loophole rendered the whole law unconstitutional.

My. Imagine if that same standard were applied in Nevada. Remember that the state’s smoking ban famously exempts casinos — putting at a competitive disadvantage the bars that serve food and also cater to slot players.

A group of Southern Nevada tavern owners tried on more than one occasion to make the “equal protection” argument in court. It never went anywhere.

Meanwhile, it’s now against the law in most Nevada bars to enjoy a cigarette while indulging your video poker habit. But it’s not illegal for a Nevadan to puff away while sitting in front of a video poker machine at his local neighborhood gaming establishment.

Wonder what Judge Ryan would think of that.