(LibertySons.org) – The fate of Arlington National Cemetery’s Reconciliation Monument, sometimes called the Confederate Monument, has taken multiple complex twists and turns since the Department of Defense (DOD) announced it would remove the memorial. Yet, as of December 19, a US District Judge gave the government the go-ahead to disassemble the monument despite pushback from various groups.
On December 11, a group of 44 House Republicans led by Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) wrote a letter to Lloyd Austin demanding that the Secretary of Defense pause the removal of the memorial until they passed 2024 appropriations. Clyde claimed that the Naming Commission established via the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) had overstepped its boundaries by suggesting the military should remove the monument as one of many installations that honored or commemorated the Confederacy.
The lawmakers claimed that if the DOD moved forward to remove the memorial, it would violate the separation of powers. Yet, the DOD contended that if it didn’t remove the monument by January 1, 2024, the agency would violate a federal law passed by Congress in 2021.
On December 17, Defend Arlington filed suit in the US District Court of the Eastern District of Virginia, asking for emergency injunctive relief to stop the monument’s removal. Pending his ruling, Judge Rossie Alston Jr. issued a temporary injunction on December 18.
Yet, on December 19, Alston reversed his injunction and authorized the DOD to continue working. He also dismissed the suit, noting that the plaintiff had filed the same suit in February in the District of Columbia US District Court, and Judge Beryl Howell had ruled against them on December 12, citing the DOD’s legal obligation under the NDAA to remove the monument. Alston, who visited the site, noted the degree of care workers were using to ensure that graves and markers would remain safe while they worked.
As of December 19, the Army said it was continuing to remove the monument and would place it in storage pending a final determination of its disposition.
~Here’s to Our Liberty!
Copyright 2023, LibertySons.org
