Senate candidate drops bus suit against Cambridge, which denies Elizabeth Warren forced it to go after him

A federal judge in Boston today agreed with a request from Senate candidate Shiva Ayyardurai to dismiss his lawsuit against Cambridge over its banning him from from parking his "Real Indian" campaign bus at his Concord Avenue headquarters, because the city rescinded the ban after getting proof Ayyardurai was not parking it there permanently, but was instead actually using it to go places.

Of course, Ayyadurai, an outspoken candidate who attends rallies on the Boston Common with his own bullhorn and who announced his candidacy at a Washington party held by a leader of the "alt right," couldn't just leave well enough alone.

Along with his request to dismiss his suit, Ayyadurai demanded the city of Cambridge apologize to him, by agreeing to what he called "terms of surrender." In his request, Ayyadurai claimed Cambridge rescinded the ban not because he had provided proof he had not stationed the bus in his parking lot permanently but because it knew it would likely lose the case and because it knew he would introduce evidence exposing "Elizabeth Warren’s potential involvement" in the original decision to order the bus moved.

He demanded that the city of Cambridge acknowledge it had "unconditionally" revoked its enforcement order against the bus and that it agree that "the freedom of speech rights embodied in the First Amendment extend to the Plaintiffs and their vehicles." In fact, he claimed the city had "initiated negotiations" leading to those "terms of surrender."

Megan Bayer, the city of Cambridge's attorney, replied similarly to that American commander on being asked by the Germans to surrender at the Battle of the Bulge, only with somewhat more words:

[T]he City states that the Declaration contains false and misleading statements, including statements referring to alleged representations of the City that the City did not make to Plaintiffs as the so-called “terms of surrender” were never agreed upon by the City. ...

The City has not entered into a settlement agreement with the Plaintiffs, nor has the City agreed to any terms of settlement or so-called “terms of surrender.” Furthermore, the City vehemently denies the allegations contained in the fifth, sixth and seventh Whereas Paragraphs of the Declaration, and specifically, the City denies that it is “fearful that the Preliminary Injunction bring imposed on them would lead to the Defendants losing a federal lawsuit,” that it is “fearful that the risk of discovery and depositions in a lawsuit would lead to exposing Elizabeth Warren’s potential involvement in forcing the City’s actions against the Plaintiffs,” and that it initiated negotiations and agreed upon the purported “terms of surrender.” The allegations contained in the fifth, sixth and seventh Whereas Paragraphs of the Declaration are false and baseless self-serving statements made by Plaintiff Ayyadurai.

In her order today, US District Judge Rya Zobel simply dismissed Ayyadurai's lawsuit, without taking action on either his demands or the city's counter-demands.