(USA Features) GOP Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota is ripping a federal court ruling she deemed “political and punitive” that upheld a ban on fireworks at the Mount Rushmore National Monument over the July 4th holiday.
“This is part of the radical left’s agenda. They don’t want to celebrate America or our freedoms,” she told Fox News Wednesday.
“They are pushing critical race theory. They are pushing The 1619 Project. And this is just another one of those battles to erase our true, honest and patriotic [expression] in this country,” she added.
Despite the ruling, however, Noem vowed to continue fighting.
“This is political. It is all political and punitive, and it is ridiculous,” she said.
“And the fact that we have a judge that stood beside this political, arbitrary decision that came out of the Biden White House is unfortunate, but we do not quit. We keep fighting. And this country is worth it,” she added.
Noem’s comments come after U.S. District Chief Judge Roberto Lange, an Obama appointee, ruled against South Dakota’s challenge to the National Park Service ban. Reversing the ban, Lange wrote, would amount to “improper judicial activism for this Court to disregard settled law” in how federal agencies operate.
South Dakota put on a fireworks display last year over the July 4th celebration after getting permission from the Trump administration. The former president himself also attended and gave a campaign speech.
Noem said her state had taken all of the necessary precautions in order to pull off a display without danger.
“To shut it down at this point saying there could be COVID concerns, fire concerns, environmental concerns, is just not honest because we’ve gone through and checked all those boxes, submitted to all their permitting requirements, done the environmental studies,” she said.
“We’ve addressed all their concerns.”
Lange, in his 36-page opinion, appeared to inject his own political views.
“This country could use a good celebration of its foundational principles of democracy, liberty, and equal protection of law, after a pandemic that has disrupted society and business and has killed nearly 600,000 United States citizens to date, after an insurrection and physical incursion of the United States Capitol while Congress was convening to certify the outcome of the presidential election, and after this nation has become so sadly divided by the politicization of so many issues, likely to include even the outcome of this case,” the judge wrote.
Democrats have called the incident at the Capitol an insurrection while Republicans, generally speaking, have referred to it as a riot.
Thus far, the federal government has charged hundreds of people for various infractions related to the incident but none have been charged with sedition-like offenses.