The stay of removal comes after a group called Defend Arlington, which is affiliated with Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday seeking the restraining order. The lawsuit accuses the Army, which oversees the administration and maintenance of the cemetery, of moving too fast in seeking the memorial's removal. Per the lawsuit, "The removal will desecrate, damage, and likely destroy the Memorial longstanding at ANC as a grave marker and impede the Memorial’s eligibility for listing on the National Register of Historic Places."

In issuing his order, Judge Alston acknowledged there was merit to the argument by the plaintiffs that the work involved in removing the statue would disturb nearby gravesites. Alston ordered participants in the matter to be ready to argue their cases this Wednesday, and also noted that he "takes very seriously the representations of officers of the Court, and should the representations in this case be untrue or exaggerated, the Court may take appropriate sanctions.” //

The statue, unveiled in 1914, features a bronze woman, crowned with olive leaves, standing on a 32-foot pedestal, and was designed to represent the American South. According to Arlington, the woman holds a laurel wreath, a plow stock and a pruning hook, with a Biblical inscription at her feet that says: “They have beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning hooks.” //

smagar
3 hours ago
If Congress really wants to see this statue come down, wouldn't it speak up and object to the TRO?

Anyone who's studied this issue knows that the Naming Commission recommendations were buried in an NDAA. Hardly anyone saw them before they began to be implemented.

Since then, the House of Representatives has approved an amendment by Andrew Clyde (R-GA) to this year's defense appropriations, which would prohibit federal dollars from being spent to remove this memorial. If you put two and two together, this is a clear sign from one half of Congress that it doesn't want to see this memorial moved. Now that everyone's had a chance to read all the commission's recommendations and weigh their impact, it's telling that one house of Congress has voted this way.

Let's hope the judge considers this. Sounds as if it's time for the House to hold hearings on the Naming Commission recommendations themselves. Seems as things aren't as cut-and-dried as they were depicted to be.