>A Virginia judge has blocked the city of Charlottesville's effort to remove the Confederate statue that sparked a deadly white nationalist rally in 2017.
>Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore ruled that any attempts to remove the Robert E. Lee statue violate a state law protecting war memorials, the Daily Progress reported. The decision last week ends a lawsuit filed in March 2017 opposing the Charlottesville City Council vote to remove statue on the grounds that it sends a racist message.
>The planned removal ostensibly prompted the Unite the Rally at which a neo-Nazi drove a car into counter protesters, killing Heather Heyer.
>Moore issued a permanent injunction, the Progress reported, preventing future removal. His ruling also applied to a statue of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson, also located in downtown Charlottesville.
>Siding with the plaintiffs and against the city, Moore said the state law protecting war memorials does not have discriminatory intent.
>"I don't think I can infer that a historical preservation statute was intended to be racist," he said. "Certainly, (racism) was on their minds, but we should not judge the current law by that intent."
http://archive.is/pF5r7