Temporary Restraining Order Issued for Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery
Falls Church, Va. — A federal judge on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring removal of a memorial to Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery.
A group called Defend Arlington, affiliated with a group called Save Southern Heritage Florida, filed a lawsuit Sunday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, seeking the restraining order. A hearing has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Work to remove the memorial had begun Monday before the restraining order was issued, but the memorial remains in place on cemetery grounds.
A cemetery spokesperson said Monday that Arlington is complying with the restraining order, but referred all other questions to the Justice Department.
The cemetery had said on Friday that it expected to complete the removal this week. It said the removal was required by Congress, and that it was complying with environmental and historic-preservation regulations.
But the lawsuit accused the Army, which runs the cemetery, of violating regulations in seeking a hasty removal of the memorial.
"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," the lawsuit accuses.
The temporary restraining order issued Monday by a U.S. District Judge stated that the work at the memorial involves the disturbance of gravesites, according to a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
In a footnote, the judge emphasized that he takes the representations of officers of the Court seriously and warned that appropriate sanctions may be taken if the representations in the case are found to be untrue or exaggerated.
The cemetery, in a statement on Friday, assured that the area around the Memorial will be protected to prevent any impact to the surrounding landscape and grave markers.
Last week, a federal judge in the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit filed by the same plaintiffs, seeking to block the removal of the memorial. The judge in Monday's order instructed the parties to be prepared to discuss how the previous case affects his decision on whether to extend the temporary restraining order beyond Wednesday.
A spokesman for the Florida heritage group, David McCallister, welcomed the judge's order, while acknowledging that it is temporary. McCallister stated that the current case differs from the dismissed one because they now have evidence that the work is being done in a way that disturbs grave sites.
He further added that the memorial promotes reconciliation between the North and South, and removing it erodes that reconciliation.
Controversial Statue in Arlington to be Relocated
A statue in Arlington, unveiled in 1914, is set to be relocated due to its controversial depictions. The bronze statue features a woman crowned with olive leaves, standing on a 32-foot pedestal, and was originally designed to represent the American South. However, some of the figures on the statue, including a Black woman portrayed as a "Mammy" holding the child of a white officer, and an enslaved man following his owner to war, have sparked criticism.
An independent commission recommended last year that the memorial be taken down as part of a report to Congress on renaming military bases and assets that commemorate the Confederacy. However, more than 40 House Republicans have written to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, arguing that the commission exceeded its authority with this recommendation.
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin disagrees with the decision to remove the statue and plans to relocate it to the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park in the Shenandoah Valley, according to a spokesperson.
