South Carolina's Confederate monument protection law upheld
Source: Associated Press
South Carolinas Confederate monument protection law upheld
By JEFFREY COLLINS
September 22, 2021
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a state law preventing anyone from moving a Confederate monument or changing the historical name of a street or building without the Legislatures permission is legal.
But in the same ruling, the justices struck down a requirement that two-thirds of the General Assembly must approve a move or name change.
The unanimous decision keeps intact South Carolinas Heritage Act, which has stopped colleges and local governments from removing statues honoring Civil War soldiers or segregationists even as other areas of the South took them down after protests sparked by the killing of African American George Floyd last year by white police officers in Minnesota.
The law was passed in 2000 as part of a compromise to remove the Confederate flag from atop the South Carolina Statehouse dome. The rebel banner was moved to a pole on the capitol lawn, where it flew until 2015 when lawmakers removed it after nine Black church members were killed in a racist massacre at a Charleston church.
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