Charlottesville Confederate statues protected, Virginia judge rules

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A Virginia judge has ruled that
Charlottesville’s Confederate statues are war monuments protected
by state law.

Judge Richard Moore’s ruling came in a lawsuit filed against
Charlottesville City Council members who voted in 2017 to remove a
statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee.

Moore cited how statues of Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson
depict the men in military uniforms and on horses associated with
them during the Civil War. Virginia law makes it illegal for local
municipalities to remove war monuments without permission from the
state.

Moore acknowledged the controversy that has surrounded
Confederate statues in recent years, and said his ruling is limited
to the question of whether the Lee and Jackson statues in
Charlottesville fall under the definition of war memorials in
Virginia law.

“While some people obviously see Lee and Jackson as symbols of
white supremacy, others see them as brilliant military tacticians
or complex leaders in a difficult time … and do not think of white
supremacy at all and certainly do not believe in, accept, or
believe in such. In either event, the statues to them under the
undisputed facts of this case still are monuments and memorials to
them, as veterans of the Civil War,” Moore wrote.

Moore said his ruling doesn’t guarantee that the plaintiffs will
win if the lawsuit goes to trial. He said he still needs to rule on
several pending issues, including the city councilors’ motion that
they have immunity from the lawsuit.

The Monument Fund filed the lawsuit in March 2017, alleging that
the council violated state law when it voted to remove the Lee
statue. The lawsuit was later amended to also include the Jackson
statue.

The statues have not been taken down.

Former City Councilor Bob Fenwick, a defendant in the lawsuit,
told WCAV-TV he believes the council still has a good case to
remove the statues.

“The important part is, does the council have legislative
immunity, sort of like how a judge has judicial immunity so that
the conclusions and the decisions that we make as councilors are
final,” Fenwick said. “It was a lawful act that we did.”

Hundreds of white nationalists gathered in Charlottesville in
August 2017 to protest the planned removal of the Lee statue. One
woman was killed and dozens were injured with a self-avowed white
supremacist drove his car into a crowd of people who showed up to
demonstrate against the white nationalists.

James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, was convicted of murder
and other charges in state court. Fields pleaded guilty last month
to federal hate crimes. He is awaiting sentencing

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