Judge tosses lawsuit seeking to move Confederate monument

NORFOLK, Va. – A Virginia judge has dismissed a lawsuit by activists which sought to force the city of Norfolk to move its 112-year-old Confederate monument.

The Virginian-Pilot reports that Chief Judge Mary Jane Hall said in an 11-page order entered Tuesday that the plaintiffs failed to prove that their constitutional rights were being violated by the continued placement of the Confederate monument.

The plaintiffs, Roy Perry-Bey and Ronald Green, sought to have the 80-foot (25-meter) monument moved as the Norfolk City Council promised in a resolution passed in 2017.

Perry-Bey called Hall’s ruling “improper.”

After Perry-Bey and Green had filed their lawsuit, Norfolk City Attorney Bernard Pishko said in April that the city would challenge a state law which makes it illegal to move war monuments, including those dedicated to the Confederacy.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com