Plaintiffs said the “volcano of corruption, if allowed to go forward, will mark an inflection point in American history.”

Plaintiffs said the “volcano of corruption, if allowed to go forward, will mark an inflection point in American history.”

A federal judge refused to halt the UFC Freedom 250 cage fights set for this weekend at the White House, despite a lawsuit that called the event a “volcano of corruption” that will mark “the first private, for-profit sporting event ever held on White House grounds.”

In a ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, an Obama appointee, said he rejected the plaintiffs’ emergency application because they failed “to establish both a substantial likelihood of standing and irreparable harm, and because the equities and public interest weigh against emergency relief.”

The case was brought by activist Susan Douglas and Vietnam War veteran Paul Romano, who challenged the use of the Lincoln Memorial chamber and the South Lawn of the White House. Represented by the Public Integrity Project, they alleged that the event runs afoul of federal regulations and isn’t the purely patriotic display that Donald Trump and UFC head Dana White have portrayed.

  • kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    14·
    21 days ago

    The judge concluded that the risk of any significant environmental damage “therefore appears remote,” whereas the harms on the government side include the time, effort and money that have gone into planning the event, as well as the interests of spectators, remote viewers and the millions of dollars the UFC and related organizations have spent.

    “The potential loss of those dollars resulting from a last-minute, court-ordered stoppage cannot be ignored,” the judge wrote.

    So, it really is always capitalism.