Sixteen attorneys general joined Gov. Kristi Noem’s fight to restore South Dakota’s Fourth of July fireworks, the latest in a more than yearlong showdown between state and federal officials.
On Wednesday, the attorneys general from 16 states filed an amicus brief in support of Noem’s lawsuit against the Department of the Interior to restore Mount Rushmore’s Fourth of July fireworks display. Led by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, this new lawsuit intends to restore the display for next year and the years to come.
“The Biden administration’s arbitrary decision to cancel the Mount Rushmore Fireworks Celebration sets a bad precedent for other states who want honest and predictable federal processes,” Noem said. “I am grateful for the 16 attorneys general who are standing up with South Dakota so that we can return the Fireworks Celebration to Mount Rushmore and honor our nation’s birthday at America’s Shrine to Democracy for next year and in the future.”
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The new amicus brief condemned the cancellation of the 2021 fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, arguing the National Park Service’s decision-making was “erratic, flimsy, and based on unsupported rationales,” taking particular issue with the decision to cancel the Mount Rushmore fireworks display while allowing the show on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to proceed.
“Much of the letter refusing to grant South Dakota’s permit was focused on the COVID-19 pandemic,” wrote the attorneys general. “COVID-19 concerns did not prevent the National Park Service from holding a fireworks display on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It was arbitrary and capricious to rely on the same concerns to refuse to allow a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore.”
Noem sued the Biden administration in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota in April 2021 when officials denied South Dakota’s request to host a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore, citing COVID-19 as cause for concern. Seventeen attorneys general, including Schmidt, backed the governor in her lawsuit, with Schmidt saying he was “happy to help” Noem fight the Biden administration’s “arbitrary decision.”
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The court denied Noem’s request in June 2021, saying that a ruling in her favor would constitute “improper judicial activism.” Later that month, Noem took a dig at President Joe Biden for the festivities at the National Mall.
“It’s a beautiful day. I really wish that we were able to have fireworks here this year, probably not gonna happen because of the Biden administration, but look at all the wonderful people still enjoying this monument to history,” she said on June 27.
Representatives for Schmidt did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
