https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/charlottesvilles-confederate-monuments-are-protected-judge-rules-180972096/
Judge Richard E. Moore ruled that the statues of Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson are protected under an obscure Virginian law that states that only the state government remove, deface, or damage war memorials. A group of citizens filed the lawsuit shortly before the 2017 riots that left several injured and one dead after the city council voted to remove the statues of Jackson and Lee. The city claims that they can remove the statues because they were built in the 1920s, and are therefore not war memorials but symbols of white supremacy. While Judge Moore did rule that the statues can stay, it is expected that the trial will go before the Virginia Supreme Court. This pertains to US History because among the legal questions raised by this case is one regarding the 14th amendment. It is under debate whether the state law violates the amendment's equal protection clause which states that a government must issue similar treatment to individuals in similar conditions. This prohibits governments from demeaning any racial or religious minorities. If the monuments are a symbol of white supremacy (which personally I think they are), then they should be removed because they violate the 14th amendment.
I think the fact that they weren't put up in the 1920s is a sure sign they should go.
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