{"id":2565,"date":"2026-06-12T18:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2565"},"modified":"2026-06-12T18:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T18:06:22","slug":"judge-rejects-bid-to-stop-ufc-fight-at-white-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2565","title":{"rendered":"Judge rejects bid to stop UFC fight at White House"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div> <div>\n<button>\n<strong>\n<span><svg>\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span>Summary<\/span>\n<\/strong>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<span><svg><\/svg>\n<\/span>\n<\/button>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>A federal judge has rejected a request to block the UFC fight at the White House this weekend.<\/li>\n<li>Two Virginia residents argued the event circumvents federal permitting rules by claiming exemptions meant for America&#8217;s 250th birthday celebrations.<\/li>\n<li>The judge ruled the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to challenge the event, which has cost UFC more than $60 million.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>\n<span>AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            A federal judge has rejected a request from two Virginia residents to block President Donald Trump from hosting a UFC fight at the White House this weekend.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2561\">Jan. 6 debanking probe once floated as way to pad anti-weaponization fund<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            Friday afternoon\u2019s decision from US District Judge Amit P. Mehta came in a case brought last weekend by two people in Virginia who argued the privately run event cannot be lawfully held on the White House\u2019s South Lawn or the Lincoln Memorial, where other aspects of it are expected to take place Friday before the main event on Sunday.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The appointee of former President Barack Obama concluded that the two plaintiffs do not have the legal right \u2014 known as \u201cstanding\u201d \u2014 to challenge the event. As a result, he made no ruling on the legality of the planned fight.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            But he nonetheless acknowledged the administration\u2019s claim that a ruling halting the event would cause substantial harm to the people involved in the event, including Trump, the fighters and thousands of spectators.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cAnd then there is the $60 million that the UFC and UFC-affiliated organizations have expended to put on the event,\u201d the judge wrote. \u201cThe potential loss of those dollars resulting from a last-minute, court-ordered stoppage cannot be ignored.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The plaintiffs \u2013 a political activist and a Vietnam War veteran \u2013 had argued that the event is being unlawfully held at the White House because officials are leaning on a federal rule that exempts events around America\u2019s 250th birthday from having to follow certain permitting regulations.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The UFC event, they say, is not being held in honor of the country\u2019s founding but is instead intended to celebrate Trump\u2019s birthday, which also falls on Sunday. As a result, officials and the event\u2019s private organizers should have had to jump through ordinary regulatory hoops, like conducting an environmental assessment, before moving ahead with it, the plaintiffs argued.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cThe event is neither \u2018for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence\u2019 nor, crucially, being \u2018planned, organized, and executed\u2019 by the federal government,\u201d lawyers representing the two plaintiffs wrote in court papers.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            They zeroed in on the fact that the event is largely being executed by private entities and is not \u201cofficial\u201d in nature. The fight, they say, will instead enrich Trump, who has reportedly purchased stock in UFC\u2019s parent company. The plaintiffs had asked Mehta to temporarily intervene to stop the event from taking place this weekend while more legal proceedings play out.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2557\">A submersible ride revealed a vast whale graveyard. And it holds more than just bones<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n            According to court documents provided by the Trump administration in this lawsuit, the event has cost UFC more than $60 million.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The UFC is responsible for \u201cproduction, labor, construction, and promotion costs,\u201d while the federal government is providing \u201cemergency equipment and services, including first aid\/medical services, law enforcement, and security,\u201d White House management and administration director Joshua Fisher said in a sworn declaration. That includes \u201ca substantial volume of perishable food items for the anticipated 4,000 South Lawn guests and over 120,000 Ellipse guests.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<div>\n<header>\n<span>\n      Related article\n    <\/span>\n<\/header>\n<section>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A worker stands on a lift, under President Donald Trump's name at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, on December 19, 2025.\" class=\"wp-image-2564\" height=\"144\" src=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/b4f1f95acd8bb73dfa1382b5d9a4ec7e.jpg\" width=\"256\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<span>A worker stands on a lift, under President Donald Trump&#8217;s name at the facade of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, a day after its board announced it would rename the institution The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, on December 19, 2025.<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<figcaption>Kevin Lamarque\/Reuters<\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>\n<span>Trump administration appeals judge\u2019s ruling over removing president\u2019s name from Kennedy Center<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<div>2  min read<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n            It\u2019s not yet clear how much those federal services are costing taxpayers.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            In court filings defending the project this week, Justice Department lawyers told Mehta that he should not intervene on behalf of the two Virginians because, they argued, such a ruling would unfairly burden a host of parties on the other side of the case.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            They pushed back strongly on claims that the administration was skirting federal permitting rules and violating various laws in its effort to stand up the event. Federal law, they asserted, does not require Congress to approve \u201ctemporary structures\u201d on the White House grounds like the \u201cclaw,\u201d as the Virginias had said.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            \u201cTemporary structures are ubiquitous on the White House grounds, erected for nearly every special event, yet nobody has ever before suggested that Congress somehow needs to pass legislation for every concert tent or Easter egg roll kiosk,\u201d DOJ argued.\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n            The administration said workers were expected to begin disassembling the \u201cclaw\u201d starting Monday.\n    <\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationtimess.com\/?p=2547\">Exclusive: US military rushed to prepare ground mission to capture Iran\u2019s uranium, but Trump paused it, sources say<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n<em>This story has been updated with additional details.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge has rejected a request from two Virginia residents to block President Donald Trump from hosting a UFC fight at the White House this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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