{"id":26741,"date":"2022-07-27T16:26:49","date_gmt":"2022-07-27T20:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=26741"},"modified":"2022-07-27T16:26:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-27T20:26:49","slug":"fizzled-out-appeals-court-puts-end-to-fireworks-dispute-in-sacred-black-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/07\/27\/fizzled-out-appeals-court-puts-end-to-fireworks-dispute-in-sacred-black-hills\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Fizzled out’: Appeals court puts end to fireworks dispute in sacred Black Hills"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Black<\/a>
Land defenders protest the presence of then-president Donald Trump in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota in July 2020. Photo by Willi White, Courtesy of NDN Collective<\/figcaption>\r\n
Appeals court puts end to Fourth of July fireworks dispute in sacred Black Hills<\/div>\r\n
Wednesday, July 27, 2022<\/div>\r\n
Indianz.Com<\/div>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nThe Republican governor of South Dakota has once again been turned away in court over efforts to set off fireworks in the sacred Black Hills.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLast year, Gov. Kristi Noem<\/a> (R) sued the Biden administration for rejecting her permit to host a Fourth of July celebration at Mount Rushmore. In June 2021, a federal judge determined that she had no case, citing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> as well as objections from the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe<\/a>, whose leadership opposes fireworks on their treaty lands<\/a>.\r\n

<\/p>\r\nA federal appeals court has now weighed in — this time, with a unanimous decision against Noem. A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals<\/a> on Wednesday said the “controversy” is over, considering that the permit in dispute was for an event that would have happened more than a year ago.\r\n

<\/P>\r\n“The bottom line is that we cannot change what happened last year, and South Dakota has not demonstrated that deciding this otherwise moot case will impact any future permitting decision,” Judge David Stras wrote for the court in the eight-page decision. [PDF<\/a>]\r\n

<\/p>\r\n“Any controversy has, in other words, fizzled out,” added Stras, who was nominated to the 8th Circuit by Republican former president Donald Trump.\r\n

<\/p>\r\n