What Virginia law says about removing Confederate statues

RICHMOND, Va. (WSET) -- Though there are many discussions around the country right now about removing Confederate Statues, there is uncertainty surrounding who has the authority to approve it.

Richmond's mayor, Levar Stoney, announced Wednesday that he wanted a commission he created to start a discussion on moving Confederate Monuments away from Monument Ave.

This is in relation to the "Unite the Right" rally that turned violent in Charlottesville.

Previously, the commission was to discuss adding context to the memorials.

There are five Confederate monuments on the street currently, only one, the Robert E. Lee statue, is owned and maintained by the state. The monuments were built on donated land with privately-raised money, and then eventually turned over to the city, according to WTVR in Richmond.

Many argue that Confederate statues are protected under state law from being removed or altered, but others say that law only applies to certain memorials.

Current law quotes, "...it shall be unlawful for the authorities of the locality, or any other person or persons, to disturb or interfere with any monuments or memorials so erected, or to prevent its citizens from taking proper measures and exercising proper means for the protection, preservation and care of same," referring to memorials for war veterans, including the Civil War.

However, there have been rulings that changed the interpretation of the law, as well as a push to change the current law.

In 2015, a Danville judge ruled that the state law is limited to monuments, erected after the law was last amended, which was in 1998; the Supreme Court never heard the appeal of the rulling so the decision is limited to only that case.

Law professors said that Richmond could present the same argument as in Danville or they could come up with other arguments that the law doesn't apply to certain monuments, for example, they are monuments to people and not a war.

The City of Charlotttesville filed a motion in July that said a state law protecting memorials to war veterans became applicable in 1997 and doesn't apply to the Lee statue, which was erected in 1924.

The filing also mentions that the General Assembly passed a bill that would make the war memorial statute operate retroactively, but Gov. McAuliffe vetoed that bill saying "it overrides the authority of local governments” to remove or modify war memorials erected prior to 1997.

The city argued that there is no inscription on the statue that references the Confederacy, the Civil War, any battle occurring during the Civil War or the veterans of the Civil War.

Utlimately, City Council's would have to approve the removal of the statues in Richmond and the funding to do so; Charlottesville voted to sell the Confederate statues, but a judge ordered the Lee Statue couldn't be moved for six months.

Virginia is the state with the most Confederate symbols, at 223, according to CNN.