Confederate Group Sues Decatur, DeKalb Over Monument Removal

DECATUR, GA — The Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans is suing the city of Decatur and DeKalb County commissioners over the removal of the Confederate obelisk in Decatur Square last year, court records show.

The nine-page lawsuit, filed last week in the DeKalb County Superior Court, requests that the 30-foot Confederate obelisk be returned to its "former place of honor," the lawsuit reads. The monument was removed last June after standing there for more than 100 years.

The city of Decatur and all seven DeKalb County commissioners were named as defendants in the lawsuit, including two who were not in office when the obelisk was removed. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the lawsuit suggests officials took "collusive action" to go around the law protecting Confederate monuments (the same law that protects the carving at Stone Mountain).

Martin O'Toole, a spokesperson for the SCV Georgia division, said in a Facebook post Sunday afternoon that the monument was "illegally removed."

"The SCV is going back to file to restore monuments that have already been illegally removed," O'Toole wrote in the post. "DeKalb County is the first such case and an especially important one. Decatur and DeKalb counties actions have been cited in several venues as an example of a legitimate means by the 'Cancel Culture' to censor history. This lawsuit should expose the falsity of these claims.

"The return of the Confederate Memorial Obelisk to its place of prominence and honor on the Decatur Courthouse Square will send a message around the state and nation vindicating our laws."

DeKalb County officials attempted to get the monument removed or relocated multiple times over the last few years, the AJC reported, but it never worked out.

But when the monument became a frequent target for vandalism amid last summer's protests against police brutality and racism, the city of Decatur filed a formal complaint calling it a "nuisance" — and Superior Court Judge Clarence Seeliger ordered the monument's removal.

Crews removed the obelisk in the late hours of June 18 and into the early morning of June 19, or Juneteenth — the holiday commemorating the freeing of the last remaining enslaved people in Texas on June 19, 1865. President Joe Biden on Thursday declared Juneteenth a federal holiday.

Seeliger issued another order in September 2020 saying the obelisk "should not at any time" be returned to the square.

O'Toole wrote in the post that the monument could not be considered a "public nuisance" and was in violation of the law that protects Georgia's Confederate monuments.

"Other defects include the fact that the judge made no findings of fact. The order held that the Monument was a 'public nuisance.' Yet, Georgia law expressly defines a public nuisance as one that damages all persons," the post reads. "The monument, while offensive to some, clearly does not damage all persons."

Read more:

• Decatur's Confederate Monument Removed Near Atlanta
• John Lewis Memorial Coming To Decatur Square