The Job Creators Network, a conservative activist organization, withdrew its lawsuit against Major League Baseball.
JCN had sued the baseball association over its decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game to Denver after Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature enacted a law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, that voting rights and civil rights organizations contend restricts the right to vote.
The law also puts control of the elections more directly in the hands of the Republican-controlled legislature, and removes a great deal of authority from the Secretary of State and local elections officials.
Earlier in the month U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni of the Southern District of New York denied a request for an injunction to force Major League Baseball to move the All-Star Game back to Truist Park in Cobb County. The JCN’s case was argued by Howard Kleinhendler, an attorney who had been on the team of so-called “Kraken” lawyers who filed suits in multiple states attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of the JCN, announced at a press conference at the SDNY courthouse this afternoon that JCN was dropping the suit, but added, “MLB’s decision to punish these Atlanta small businesses and residents who bear no responsibility for their state’s political action was wrong — no matter what one judge says. The Job Creators Network will continue fighting tirelessly to make it right.”
“In the meantime, we have decided to withdraw our lawsuit against Major League Baseball,” he said. “But I’m here today to promise Atlanta-area small businesses that we will continue to find ways to remedy the injustice inflicted upon them. While we are withdrawing our case from federal court here in New York, we will continue to evaluate our legal options and other out of court opportunities. We will have more information to announce in the coming days.”
Read Ortiz’s full statement by following this link.
Dr. J.C. Bradbury is an economist and professor at Kennesaw State University who has been an outspoken skeptic of the often-cited assertion that the impact of All-Star Game on the local economy is $100 million.
When asked by the Courier to give his reaction to the JCN’s withdrawal of the lawsuit, he said, “I am not surprised. JCN’s legal argument seemed to be as grounded in reality as its claim that one exhibition baseball game is worth $100 million to the economy.”
“That is, it is not grounded in reality at all. JCN should apologize for wasting everyone’s time,” Bradbury said. “I hope that the organization’s funders will reconsider their commitment.”
