Federal judge says Confederate statue removal in Arlington Cemetery may continue

Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A Virginia-based federal judge ruled the Defense Department's removal of a Confederate statue at the Arlington National Cemetery may proceed despite protests from two groups trying to prevent it.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Alston, who initially granted a temporary restraining order on the removal, reversed his decision a day later on Tuesday as he ruled that requests to stop the removal by Defend Arlington and Save Southern Heritage Florida did "not establish that a preliminary injunction is in the public interest."

The groups charged that the plan to remove the memorials violated the National Environmental Policy Act and that graves around the statue would not be cared for during the removal process.

Alston said during a hearing on Tuesday that he physically visited the memorial's site to examine the claim on graves being disturbed during the statue's removal. He said he saw "protective devices" placed above the nearby graves to protect them.

"I saw nothing to suggest anything was being compromised at all," Alston said. "I saw great respect."

"Plaintiffs' complaints regarding the removal efforts being likely to damage the gravesites are misinformed or misleading," Alston's order said.

The memorial, commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1914, depicts a Black woman holding the baby of a White Confederate officer and an enslaved man accompanying his enslaver into battle.

The Pentagon moved to dismantle the monument last year after a recommendation from a commission established by Congress to review military facilities celebrating the Confederacy.

Alston claimed the lawsuits essentially sought to "place this court at the center of a great debate" between those who support the Confederacy and those who oppose it.