I do not smoke and can definitely live without a smoke-filled room. However, the new anti-smoking law violates the U.S. Constitution. The law violates a section of Article I that states that no bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. This new law is in truth an ex post facto law. It retroactively makes illegal the conditions and laws under which the bar and tavern owners started their businesses.
There is absolutely no authority in the U.S. Constitution that allows any state or any state Supreme Court to violate the "ex post facto" phrase. The only legal way to apply this new law as constitutionally valid would be to apply it to new businesses whose owners have not already applied for the necessary licenses.
Randy Bolton, Las Vegas
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