Court Rejects Challenge to Texas Moving Confederate Statues

A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a legal challenge to the University of Texas at Austin's decision to move Confederate statues off campus, The Hill reported. The decision upheld a lower court's ruling.

“Though these ties might give plaintiffs strong reasons to care about these monuments, plaintiffs fail to explain how these ties [provide] a First Amendment-based stake in the outcome of this litigation,” Judge Edith Clement Brown wrote for the panel. “Plaintiffs have shown only a rooting interest in the outcome of this litigation, not a direct and personal stake in it,” she added.

After years of debate, the university moved the statues in 2017.