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Lawsuit over Alta snowboarding ban rejected again

Posted at 10:30 AM, Jun 22, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-22 12:30:03-04

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal lawsuit challenging Alta Ski Area’s historic ban on snowboarding has been rejected again.

In a one-page order, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver refused to re-hear the lawsuit filed by the group Wasatch Equality. The court previously ruled against the group, which was suing the ski resort and the U.S. Forest Service over the snowboarding ban.

Wasatch Equality has claimed that denying snowboarders access to the slopes of Alta Ski Area violates their equal protection rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Alta leases its land from the government. Equal protection claims have typically been used in cases involving discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity, gender and, most recently, same-sex marriage.

The group could appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. An email sent to Wasatch Equality’s attorney was not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Read the order from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here:

wasatchequality