SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court has dismissed an appeal from South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem in her legal fight to hold a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore to celebrate Independence Day last year.
She sued in an attempt to overturn the National Park Service’s denial of the state’s application to hold a fireworks display to celebrate the 2021 holiday.
The Eighth Circuit of Appeals found that South Dakota’s objections to the Park Service’s decision were moot because it was in the past.
The court wrote “We cannot change what happened last year and South Dakota has not shown that it would actually benefit from the elimination of the permitting regime.”
The court also found the federal government was within its rights to deny the state from shooting off fireworks on federal land.
The court wrote “nobody has a right to shoot off fireworks on someone else’s land, whether it be a neighbor; an area business; or as is the case here, a national park.”
