(USA Features) South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem vowed this week to file suit against the federal government after a judge denied the state’s request to allow a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore to celebrate the Fourth of July.
“Ultimately, there are strong arguments in both directions as to the balance of harms, and the public interest in the short-term appears to lie with having the fireworks display, whereas more long-term interests militate against it at least for this year,” said U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange, an Obama appointee.
But Noem, a Republican, argued that her state has met all the requirements to ensure the event would be safe, calling the decision to deny her request “political and punitive.”
Last year, the Trump administration approved the state’s request to hold a fireworks display at the National Monument. Then-President Donald Trump even attended the event.
But this year, the National Park Service under President Joe Biden denied South Dakota’s request citing environmental and safety concerns dating back to the beginning of the Obama administration in 2009.
“They don’t want to celebrate America or our freedoms,” Noem said Thursday in an interview with Fox News.
“They’re pushing critical race theory. They’re pushing the 1619 Project. And this is just another one of those battles to erase our true, honest and patriotic history in this country,” she added.