Trump argues lawsuit seeking to halt White House UFC fight was brought too ‘late’ | CNN Politics

The Trump administration is urging a federal judge to reject a bid to stop an upcoming UFC fight at the White House, arguing that a lawsuit from two Virginia residents against the event was brought too late to justify judicial intervention now. Justice Department lawyers told US District Judge Amit P. Mehta that a ruling blocking the event, which is set to take place this coming weekend, would upend months of careful planning and unfairly burden a host of parties on the other side of the case, including President Donald Trump, thousands of spectators and more than a dozen athletes expected to participate in the event. “No one is holding plaintiffs in a jiu jitsu lock, forcing them to watch UFC Freedom 250 against their will. The public interest does not favor allowing them to exercise a heckler’s veto, particularly at this late date,” the government attorneys wrote in a court filing, referring to claims from the two plaintiffs that the event was causing them to suffer an “aesthetic injury,” among other alleged harms. “Plaintiffs’ aesthetic interests are dwarfed by the amount of time, labor, and funding that has been invested in reliance upon an understanding that the