The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans continues to fight what it calls “an unprecedented assault” on Rebel monuments and memorials. Interestingly, its efforts are based on the Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 50-3-1 (The Monument Protection Act). It is a weapon, along with the removal of sovereign immunity for government agencies, the SCV is using against Georgia cities and counties that unilaterally hauled away monuments without due process.
Sovereign immunity was used as a defense by government agencies removing the monuments. But a constitutional amendment approved by voters that took effect in 2021 removed that defense. SCV spokesman Martin O’Toole says, “Every defending government county, city or consolidated government has raised sovereign immunity as a defense. We believe we can defeat them on appeal but, if we do not, they will no longer be able to use it in the future anyway. That is a battle which we have won.”
The latest victory involves the state Supreme Court again vindicating the SCV’s legal position by reversing the decision of the Superior Court of DeKalb County and the Georgia Court of Appeals in the case of Georgia Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, inc., et al v. Bryan A. Downs, in his official capacity as City Attorney of the City of Decatur, et al, (Case No. S23C0153).
In this case Judge Clarence Seeliger (now retired) of the Superior Court of DeKalb County accepted the argument that the presence of the Confederate monument in front of the old courthouse constituted a “nuisance” and ordered it removed only three days after the complaint was filed. The monument has remained concealed in an undisclosed location in further violation of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated §50-3-1. The Georgia law required that once a monument is removed if done under the guidance of the statute, it then “shall be relocated to a site of similar prominence, honor, visibility, and access within the same county or municipality in which the monument was originally located.”
Thus, as the SCV points out, even if the monument was found to be a “nuisance” (and Georgia law is very specific about that), it must be moved to a site of similar prominence.
The SCV is also refiling lawsuits against Newton and Henry counties, showing that the SCV and its local “camps” and members have “standing” to revive cases that were previously dismissed. Another case just refiled is in Brunswick. The city government there removed the Confederate monument from Hanover Park where it stood since 1902 and has it hidden. But with the end of sovereign immunity, the SCV has a good shot at getting the monument either restored to its original spot or located in an equally prominent location.
As with all these cases, O’Toole says, “the 2021 Supreme Court ruling gives the SCV, its members and supporters of honest history a day in court.”
“This is the fight for which the Sons of Confederate Veterans was formed. Our ancestors left as markers to commemorate the heroism and courage of our Confederate soldiers, sailors, Marines, and civilians decorating the entire state. If we cannot win this fight, we will lose it all,” he says.
