Norfolk, VA sues in hopes of removing Confederate monument, cites free speech

Seal of Norfolk%2C Virginia.
(Image by (From Wikimedia) City of Norfolk, Author: City of Norfolk)   Details   Source   DMCA

Norfolk, Virginia is claiming in a lawsuit that its free speech rights are being violated because a state law won’t let it remove a Confederate monument from its downtown area. This lawsuit employs a relatively novel and untested legal strategy in the federal court system regarding whether cities have free speech rights. The city filed suit Monday in a U.S. District Court which targets a Virginia law that prevents the removal of war memorials. The suit claims infringement of the First Amendment because the city is being forced to project a message it no longer supports. UVA law professor Richard Schragger said the lawsuit makes a relatively “novel legal claim that hasn’t been tested in federal court yet." (Ed Note: In 2017 the  City Council voted to move the monument to a local cemetery in the wake of the fatal domestic terrorism in Charlottesville, VA.)