Governor Kristi Noem Sues Biden Administration Over Canceled Fourth Of July Celebration

April 30, 2021
noem sues biden

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over its decision refusing to allow Fourth of July fireworks at Mount Rushmore this year. 

The National Park Service (NPS) last month rejected a request by South Dakota to hold the fireworks display.

NPS Regional Director Herbert Frost cited “potential risks” to the “health and safety of employees and visitors” due to the pandemic, adding those concerns had yet to be evaluated from last year’s event.

Fireworks returned to the national memorial last year celebrating the Fourth of July for the first time since 2009. The event featured a speech delivered by then-President Trump.

“Mount Rushmore is the very best place to celebrate America’s birthday and all that makes our country special,” Noem wrote in the filing.

“We are asking the court to enjoin the Department of Interior’s (DOI) denial of the fireworks permit and order it to issue a permit for the event expeditiously,” she added.

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Noem Sues Biden

Noem has dismissed health concerns over the Fourth of July celebration – concerns that were raised the previous year – claiming contact tracing “could not trace a single case of COVID-19” to the 2020 event.

And preemptively canceling Independence Day celebrations while simultaneously trying to tell the American people that people who get the COVID vaccine are doing their “patriotic duty, helping us get on the path to Independence Day” seems like a mixed message.

“I’ll be laying out the path ahead to continue our fight against COVID-19, to get us to July 4th,” Biden told reporters.

“This is our target date to get life in America closer to normal and begin to celebrate our independence from the virus together with our friends and our loved ones as we celebrate Independence Day.”

Just not at Mount Rushmore, apparently.

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Independence Day

Noem’s decision to sue the Biden administration to allow people to live their lives freely on Independence Day is rather remarkable. The fact that the American president is fighting that idea, even more so.

At his speech last year, former President Trump echoed Noem’s comments that Mount Rushmore is the place to celebrate the Fourth of July.

“There could be no better place to celebrate America’s independence than beneath this magnificent, incredible majestic mountain and monument to the greatest Americans who have ever lived,” he declared.

Noem, according to the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, believes the decision not to allow Fourth of July fireworks at Mount Rushmore is “for political reason.”

She might be onto something.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) last year, from their official Twitter account, claimed such an event was a glorification of racism in America.

“Now (Trump’s) holding a rally glorifying white supremacy at Mount Rushmore – a region once sacred to tribal communities,” they wrote, before deleting the message.

Biden, with Noem being a Republican who has defended Donald Trump, might assume the people of South Dakota are doing the same.

 

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By Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss has been covering politics for over 15 years. His writings have appeared in the Daily Caller, Fox... More about Rusty Weiss

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