A Kentucky judge Monday issued a temporary restraining order preventing the city of Louisville from moving a 70-foot-tall Confederate war monument from the spot near the University of Louisville campus where it has stood since 1895.
(FOX)- Jefferson County Circuit Judge Judith McDonald-Burkman issued the order against Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and the metro area’s government, preventing them from moving, disassembling or otherwise tampering with the monument.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans and Everett Corley, a Republican running for Congress, filed for the restraining order on Monday. They contended that the mayor lacks the authority to remove the monument and did not follow proper protocol.
Fischer and University President James Ramsey had announced Friday that they would remove the monument, marking the latest government effort to reconsider displaying Confederate symbols following the massacre of nine black churchgoers in South Carolina last summer.
The city said the stone and bronze structure, for years a source of tension, would be disassembled and moved to storage until a decision is made on where it should be properly displayed.
County Attorney Mike O’Connell said he would aggressively defend the merged city-county government’s legal ability to remove the sculpture from its prominent location between Second and Third streets, next to campus and the university’s celebrated Speed Art museum, which just completed a $60 million renovation.