COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The South Carolina Supreme Court has ruled a state law preventing anyone from moving a Confederate monument or changing the historical name of a street or building without the Legislature’s permission is legal. But in the same ruling Wednesday, the justices struck down a requirement that two-thirds of the General Assembly must approve a move or name change.
The ruling keeps intact South Carolina’s Heritage Act. The 2000 law has prevented colleges and local governments from removing Confederate monuments or the names of segregationists from buildings. Lawmakers have refused to even take up any requests to remove monuments over the past few years even as other Southern cities act.
South Carolina’s Confederate monument protection law upheld
FILE - In this July 10, 2017, file photo, Cameron Maynard stands at attention by the monument to Confederate soldiers at the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, S.C. The South Carolina Supreme Court has upheld a 2000 law protecting Confederate monuments from being moved without a vote from the General Assembly. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Collins, File)