Confederate monuments supporters in New Orleans lose in court again

An opponent of City Hall’s plan to remove four monuments related to the Confederacy in New Orleans lost another round in court on Friday when a Civil District Court judge shot down a request to keep the statues in place while a trial plays out, according to New Orleans Advocate.

Judge Piper Griffin denied a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the city from moving forward with the plan to take down the statues. But lawyers for Pierre McGraw, the head of the Monumental Task Committee, which filed the suit, indicated they planned to appeal the judgment to the state Supreme Court if necessary.

The possibility of an appeal in the case, as well as potential appeals in a similar federal suit, could potentially delay removing the statues.

McGraw’s lawsuit is similar to one filed by his organization in federal court. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier ruled againstblocking the removal of the statues earlier this year, finding that there was little chance that the dozen arguments made by the plaintiffs would succeed at trial.

Griffin said the reasoning in Barbier’s ruling largely applied to the case in Civil District Court as well. In addition, she gave no credence to arguments that the city had not followed the procedure set forth in an ordinance that specifies the process for removing monuments from public property.

The city has been moving toward removing statues of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, P.G.T Beauregard and a white supremacist militia known as the White League since Mayor Mitch Landrieu called for them to come down last year. 

This story was originally published February 5, 2016 at 11:56 AM with the headline "Confederate monuments supporters in New Orleans lose in court again."