11th Circuit Ruling Hamstrings Heritage Groups' Fight Over Removal of Confederate Monuments
Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, who authored the opinion, said that so-called injuries cited by the plaintiff Southern heritage groups were "pretty amorphous."
June 22, 2020 at 06:51 PM
4 minute read
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit just made it harder for Confederate heritage groups to stop the removal of monuments from public venues.
On Monday, the Eleventh Circuit stripped Southern heritage groups and sympathizers of the right to sue in federal court over the relocation of a 26-foot-tall Confederate memorial in Lakeland, Florida. The memorial was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1908.
To have standing to sue, "A plaintiff must demonstrate among other things that he or she has suffered an invasion of a legally protected interest that is both … 'concrete and particularized,'" Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom wrote for a panel that included Beverly Martin and Senior Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District.
But injuries asserted by the plaintiffs—among them Southern War Cry, Save Southern Heritage, Veterans Monuments of America, members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy and a taxpayer who claimed "Confederate dead in his family lineage"—don't qualify, Newsom said.
Mark Nelson Miller and Kristie Hatcher-Bolin of GrayRobinson in Lakeland represented Lakeland officials on appeal. Hatcher-Bolin declined to comment on Monday's opinion. Attorney David Rhodes McCallister of Wesley Chapel, Florida, who represented the plaintiffs, couldn't be reached for comment.
The Eleventh Circuit handed down its ruling as weeks of demonstrations following the asphyxiation of Minneapolis resident George Floyd by city police have generated a renewed drive to take down or relocate dozens of Confederate monuments and to rename U.S. military bases honoring Confederate generals.
DeKalb County complied with a court order to take down a 30-foot-tall obelisk in front of its courthouse last week erected the same year as the Lakeland monument.
Over the weekend, demonstrators in Washington, D.C., pulled down a statue of Confederate General Albert Pike, wrenched two bronze statues of Confederate soldiers from a 75-foot tall Confederate monument at the state capitol in Raleigh, N.C. Statues of slaveholders, including George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant and Francis Scott Key, author of "The Star-Spangled Banner," were also toppled.
While the debate over the removal of Confederate statutes has created a political rift in communities across the nation, Monday's unanimous opinion crossed the political spectrum. Newsom was nominated by President Donald Trump, and Martin and O'Scannlain were nominated by Presidents Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan, respectively.
Lakeland's memorial cenotaph—an empty tomb engraved with images of the Confederate battle flag and the words "Confederate Dead"—was moved from the city's Munn Park to Veterans Park outside Lakeland's historic district using funds from private donations and fees generated by the city's red light camera program.
A district court judge in Florida dismissed the case with prejudice, and the city relocated the monument while the case was on appeal after the plaintiffs failed to ask for a stay. The Eleventh Circuit vacated and remanded the ruling with instructions that the district court should dismiss it without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.
"The plaintiffs assert that the monument's relocation infringes their interests in 'preserv[ing] the history of the south,' 'expressing their free speech from a Southern perspective,' 'vindicat[ing] the cause' for which the Confederate Veteran fought," and 'protect[ing] and preserv[ing] memorials to American veterans,'" Newsom wrote. " But those injuries … are pretty amorphous."
"Aside from their 'special interest' in the subject[s] of Confederate history, veterans memorials, and the so-called 'Southern perspective,' the plaintiffs haven't shown that they have suffered a particularized Article III injury of the sort that distinguishes them from other interested observers and thus qualifies them, specifically, to invoke federal-court jurisdiction," he said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllGeorgia Appeals Court Cancels Hearing in Election Interference Case Against Trump
3 minute readJustice Department Says Fulton County Jail Conditions Violate Detainee Rights
6 minute readSupreme Court Rejects Push to Move Georgia Case Against Ex-Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows
3 minute read3 GOP States Join Paid Sick Leave Movement, Passing Ballot Measures by Wide Margins
5 minute readLaw Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1'Disease-Causing Bacteria': Colgate and Tom’s of Maine Face Toothpaste Class Action
- 2Trump's SEC Overhaul: What It Means for Big Law Capital Markets, Crypto Work
- 3Armstrong Teasdale's London Creditors Face Big Losses
- 4Texas Court Invalidates SEC’s Dealer Rule, Siding with Crypto Advocates
- 5Quinn Emanuel Has Thrived in China. Will Trump Help Boost Its Fortunes?
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250