Federal Judge Restrains Removal of a Confederate War Memorial From Arlington National Cemetery

Update 12.18.23: Trump appointed U.S. District Judge Rossie Alston has issued a restraining order halting the removal of a Confederate memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

The memorial removal began on Monday but was halted after Alston's order was issued. Alston is himself African American.

Alston explained that the lawsuit brought forward by Defend Arlington claimed the removal of the memorial involves the disturbance of gravesites.

In a footnote, Alston noted that he “takes very seriously the representations of officers of the Court and should the representations in this case be untrue or exaggerated the Court may take appropriate sanctions.”

12.17.23The Biden Administration this weekend removed the Reconciliation Memorial to Confederate soldiers. Located at Arlington National Cemetery, the monument has been there for 109 years. Previous American presidents sent a wreath to be laid at the memorial on Memorial Day.

Not everyone is in favor of the removal. "The Biden administration is removing the Reconciliation Monument in Arlington. The monument was built 109 years ago to honor post-Civil War reconciliation and national unity. History is being rewritten before our eyes," tweeted End Wokeness.

In 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that the Confederate Memorial be removed. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin agreed to implement the suggestion, and Arlington National Cemetery made plans for removing and relocating the Confederate Memorial by the start of 2024 at the latest. The memorial's granite base will remain to avoid disturbing nearby graves. On December 17, 2023, social media posts showed photographs of the monument being removed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Memorial_(Arlington_National_Cemetery)

The Confederate Memorial is a memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States, that commemorates members of the armed forces of the Confederate States of America who died during the American Civil War. Authorized in March 1906, former Confederate soldier and sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel was commissioned by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in November 1910 to design the memorial. It was unveiled by President Woodrow Wilson on June 4, 1914, the 106th anniversary of the birth of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States of America.

The memorial grounds have changed slightly due to burials and alterations since 1914. Some major changes to the memorial were proposed over the years, but none has been implemented. Since the memorial's unveiling, most United States presidents have sent a funeral wreath to be laid at the memorial every Memorial Day. Some presidents have declined to do so, and the tradition is controversial.

In 2021, the Naming Commission was established by Congress in response to the George Floyd protests. The Commission set out to examine the ways in which the military continued to honor the Confederacy and provided recommendations on removing and renaming all Department of Defense items "that commemorate the Confederate States of America or any person who served voluntarily with the Confederate States of America." One of the suggestions was to remove the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.

In January 2023, the Department of Defense accepted the commission's recommendations. Arlington National Cemetery subsequently began a process to remove the memorial, set to be complete by the start of 2024. Plans were made for the statue to be removed and relocated, following a public consultation planned for autumn 2023, with the granite base left in place to avoid disturbing graves near the memorial. If carried out, it would be the first war memorial ever removed from Arlington National Cemetery.

Supporters of the memorial, including the Sons of Confederate Veterans, filed a lawsuit attempting to block the removal.[210] Social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) showed photographs of the monument being removed on December 17, 2023.