ATLANTA – A federal judge Thursday denied a bid to force Major League Baseball (MLB) to reverse its decision to pull this year’s All-Star Game out of Georgia in protest of a state law putting new restrictions on voting.
Washington, D.C.-based Job Creators Network, an advocacy group for small businesses backed by The Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus, sued MLB and its players union late last month seeking either the return of the game to Truist Park in Cobb County or the payment of $100 million in damages, an estimate of the game’s potential economic impact.
MLB announced it was moving next month’s All-Star Game to Denver shortly after the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed and Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill that tightens voter ID requirements in Georgia, limits locations for ballot drop boxes and prohibits non-poll workers from handing out food and drinks within 150 feet of voters standing in line.
Lawmakers acted after then-President Donald Trump claimed massive voter fraud in Georgia robbed him of carrying the state last November, charges that were subsequently dismissed by state election officials and in the courts.
Republicans defended the new law as a way to restore public trust in elections. Democrats charged it amounts to voter suppression.
A lawyer representing Job Creators Network argued Thursday that MLB’s decision to move the All-Star Game is punishing Georgia in an effort to intimidate the legislature into repealing the new law.
Transferring the economic benefits of the game from Georgia to Colorado would violate the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection clause by inflicting harm on Georgia businesses while benefiting those in Colorado, Howard Kleinhendler said during a hearing in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
“If you’re going to harm someone, you have to have a valid reason,” Kleinhendler said. “You can’t say ‘yes’ to Colorado and ‘no’ to Georgia because you don’t like an election law. That’s not a legitimate reason.”
But Judge Valerie Caproni, who sharply questioned Kleinhendler’s assertions throughout the hearing, ruled that Job Creators Network had no legal standing to bring the suit because it failed to demonstrate it has suffered harm from MLB’s decision.
The group spent significant resources taking its case to the public, including leasing a billboard on New York’s Times Square and taking out an ad in The New York Times.
But Caproni maintained such public relations spending is part of the group’s core mission.
The judge also declared that MLB has the legal right to take a stand on public policy. She sympathized with baseball players and coaches chosen for the All-Star Game wanting to avoid facing media questions about the issue.
“That’s a policy debate that maybe MLB doesn’t want to have,” Caproni said.
Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer representing the players union, said his client shouldn’t even have been brought into the lawsuit because it didn’t have a say over MLB’s decision to move the game.
“We don’t belong here,” he said. “[Job Creators Network] admits we don’t have the power. We didn’t make the decision.”
Caproni also faulted Job Creators Network for waiting until the end of May to file the lawsuit, after the decision to let Denver host the game had been made.
The judge set a pre-trial conference for the case early next month.
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“The judge also declared that MLB has the legal right to take a stand on public policy.”
And we the People have a legal right to boycott MLB for their traitorous political character.
If the MLB is being a disgraceful Democrat Party’s puppet,
We the People should stop supporting MLB the same way we boycott NFL for its political a$$ kissing puppet.
Sports are suppose to be void of all politics.
When sports become political they are nothing but corrupt politicians playing games.
PITY we also don’t have a legal right, to hang, draw and quarter that judge!
Who cares about these politically correct communists from MLB. I will not support MLB, the NBA or the NFL. A bunch of communist low lives. MLB, NBA and NFL go vote Democrat communist and let people put up with the high crime in the cities run by Democrat communists. When voting Democrat communist you people in the NFL, NBA and MLB are voting for antifa and blm.
boycott the allstar game.
BOYCOTT MLB period. Not just the all stars game.
AND also send out letters to EVERY BUSINESS that sponsors the MLB, and boycott them too!
I don’t care anymore. I no longer watch sports on TV since they have turned from playing ball to parading their social injustice issues.
I was almost done in, in 1981 but then MLB finished me in 1985 and then like you Son of Thunder all sports I quit watching with all the social just lies.
That’s why i am DONE watching the US Womens national soccer team.
I don’t care how good they are.. I WON’T WATCH!
Were contracts signed with vendors in Atlanta, and then broken? If yes, punitive compensation is due.
IT damn well SHOULD BE..
“Republicans defended the new law as a way to restore public trust in elections. Democrats charged it amounts to voter suppression.”,,,,which goes to show that Democrats understand that restoring public trust in elections suppresses their illegal gained votes. These laws certainly do not discriminate by race as there are plenty of aged, physically and mentally challenged whites as blacks who need the same kind of assistance to show up and vote in person.
Colorado’s voting laws are more stringent than the new Georgia law. This move by MLB was all about “woke” politics. I no longer watch so-called professional sports because they have all fallen into the toilet.
Georgia law is crafted after the Minnesota law. Minnesota is a democratic state. A lot of states ask for ID. To vote
AND since the left’s pushing for VACCINE CARDS< how is that not 'Racist"???
Truthfully, what did you expect from an Obama Judge? I read some of the comments in the case and it was revealing. I reviewed her comments from the Bench and she was excoriating the Lawyer representing Georgia. She serves on the New York bench and graduated from a Georgia Law School. She took most of the time yelling at the Georgia Lawyer and not hearing argument in the case. Yes, it was a sight to see. Our Judiciary has been so politicized that I fear it is irredeemable. Suffice it to say, this is what our President Trump is going to endure for the next few years. Using the bench and it’s Liberal Appointed Judges to punish anyone conservative or it’s causes is what we have in store before us. Stay strong and the course. Rather than flee the fight, stay the course and force the Democratic Machine to make unhinged rulings. All the best to those that are trying to protect freedom and liberty and that are in the trenches on all these issues.
We need to become politically correct and no longer consider these “political businesses” as sports and change their abbreviation/acronym to fit their image like nfl to mean Not For Lease but is for sell; mlb to mean My Leftist Business, etc. etc.
The monumental irony is that Colorado voting laws are tougher than the laws passed by Georgia. This was a purely political move by MLB!!! The MLB, NFL, and NBA have thrown their last temper tantrum were I am concerned. I will no longer support organizations that pander to their self-absorbed, self-centered, cry baby insanities.
ITs not an irony. ITS PURE unadulterated Hypocrisy…
For what it costs to fund millionaires who are PLAYING A GAME and then having to risk entry into BLM-ANTIFA cities to indulge in baseball viewership, it is not worth it. The communist party formerly known as amerikan-democrats can claim victory in the destruction of yet another American institution and past time.
At the rate they are going, what american institutions are NOT ruined by them?