Ultimate Fighting Championship gala extravaganza has
encountered a legal hitch.
On Friday, the Public Integrity Project—a firm with the mission
statement to “stop corruption”—sued the U.S. government on behalf
of two individuals from Virginia. The
lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia (D.D.C.), defendants include the Acting Director of the
National Park Service (NPS) Jessica Bowron, the National Capital
Region Director of the NPS Jen Nersesian, the U.S. Department of
the Interior and its Secretary, Doug Burgum. The plaintiffs request
that the court deems the organization of the event itself unlawful
and shuts it down, while removing the structures built on the White
House lawn to accommodate the fight card.
In the suit itself, the demand for relief declares that the
arrangement between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the White
House is corrupt, partially due to the personal relationship
between President Donald Trump and UFC President and CEO Dana
White. The lawsuit goes on to point out that the President will
give “unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to
stage a private, for-profit sports event.”
Corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private
gain
Attorney Brendan Ballou put out a statement to the Associated Press
in regards to the suit. In it, he briefly the reason for why the
Public Integrity Project got involved.
“This is a fundamentally private, commercial, corrupt use of our
most sacred national monuments for private gain. And that is what
is motivating this lawsuit,” Ballou stated.
The grounds for the suit include that the event violates NPS
regulations that specifically write the NPS will not permit the
staging of a sporting event that is “conducted primarily for the
material or financial benefit of a for-profit entity.”
Additionally, the suit offers that the construction of the UFC
stage required congressional approval that was not sought. It also
suggests that the required environmental impact review to build
this arena in this location was not run.
The White House had a short response shrugging off the suit,
positing that it was no more than obstructionism. In it, the White
House remarked that this UFC show would be “no different than the
various other White House-hosted events on the South Lawn and
properly permitted events on the Ellipse and National Mall
throughout the year.”