#RemoveTheStatues: VA Litigation Explainer, Charlottesville Call to Action

Charlottesville Lee and Jackson Statue Litigation

A number of pro-Confederate groups and individuals (including The Monument Fund and the Sons of Confederate Veterans) have filed a lawsuit in the Charlottesville Circuit Court to try and prevent the City of Charlottesville from removing the Lee or Jackson statues and from making any changes to the parks in which they sit. The lawsuit makes a number of arguments, but the main issue in the suit is a state law which Plaintiffs argue would prevent the City from removing or altering the statues. The law is Virginia Code § 15.2–1812, which says:

§ 15.2–1812. Memorials for war veterans. A locality may, within the geographical limits of the locality, authorize and permit the erection of monuments or memorials for any war or conflict…If such are erected, it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected.

This law is pretty unusual, and is the main thing that makes the Charlottesville case different than the litigation trying to block removal of Jim Crow monuments in other cities (e.g., New Orleans). The current version of the law, with its language applying to all “localities” instead of just “counties,” was passed in 1997 (73 years after the Lee statue was put up in 1924). So the primary question in the lawsuit is whether that law applies retroactively to any monuments that were put up by local governments before 1997 (such as the Lee statue). If it doesn’t apply retroactively, then Charlottesville can remove the Lee and Jackson statues. If it does apply retroactively, the court might order the City not to remove the statues.

Generally, a law is always interpreted not to apply retroactively unless the text of the law makes it unambiguously clear that it was supposed to apply that way. (For example, in this case, a clear statement making the law retroactive could have been: “This section applies to all monuments or memorials, regardless of when erected.”) Lawyers for the City and for SURJ Action believe that the law clearly doesn’t apply retroactively, because the plain language is forward looking (“If such are erected…), and there is no clear statement of retroactivity. The only other Circuit Court in Virginia ever to have ruled on the issue (in Danville) ruled that the law did not apply retroactively. The Virginia Attorney General also recently issued an opinion stating that the law does not apply retroactively. But the Charlottesville Court doesn’t have to follow either of those decisions.

Lawyers have also argued that the Lee statue is not a “memorial for war veterans” within the meaning of the law, because: 1) When Paul Goodloe McIntire gave the park and statue to the City, the gift papers said the statue was “a memorial to his parents”; 2) nothing on the statue mentions commemorating veterans or even Lee’s own military service (the base just contains his name and the dates of his birth/death); and 3) the statue’s true intent was never to memorialize veterans — rather it was part of the Jim Crow era resurgence of the Lost Cause narrative, intended to reinforce and uphold white supremacy and segregation, and to intimidate Black community members.

The hearing on the City’s demurrer (basically a motion to dismiss) is on Sept. 1, 2017. If the City loses the case in the Circuit Court, it can appeal directly to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Friday Circuit Court Hearing on Status of Confederate Statues in Charlottesville

Showing Up for Racial Justice-Charlottesville, along with other members of the Charlottesville community, are rallying at the Circuit Courthouse on Friday in support of the City Council’s ability to remove Confederate statues from the center of the city. Charlottesville — along with other cities across the country — must have the right to define public spaces in a way that supports the wellbeing of all residents. It is unreasonable for the courts or the legislatures to force municipalities to maintain these emblems to white supremacy and beacons to racial terrorism within communities in perpetuity.

Who: Anti-racist Charlottesville community leaders

What: Rally against Confederate statues

Where: Circuit Courthouse, 315 E. High Street, Charlottesville (will gather at front of building)

When: Friday, September 1 at 12:30pm, prior to the 1:30pm hearing

Images: Signs and chants relaying the message that the community will no longer abide being forced to maintain these symbols of racial terrorism in the public square. For example: “Remove the statues!” “Take them ALL down!” “Confederate statues are racial terrorism” “Let’s be on the right side of history this time, Virginia” “No statues, no KKK, no racist USA” “No more monuments to white supremacy”

“These Confederate statues serve as invitations to violent white supremacists. It is past time for us to remove the statues and rescind those invitations.”

- Lisa Woolfork, organizer with Black Lives Matter-Charlottesville