Plaques Still Barred from
High Court Site

by Peggy Fikac
Chief, Express-News Austin Bureau
San Antonio Express News

 

AUSTIN — Confederate soldiers' descendants lost a battle Monday to restore commemorative plaques to the Texas Supreme Court building, but they vowed to continue their fight.

 

State District Judge Paul Davis denied a request by the Sons of Confederate Veterans for a court order to restore the plaques, which were removed after objections by the NAACP in 2000.

 

At the time, then-Gov. George W. Bush was running for president and Confederate symbols were a point of controversy in the national race.

 

The Sons of Confederate Veterans argued they were illegally removed, noting there was no public hearing before the action.

 

Davis agreed with the state attorney general's office that he lacks authority to order the plaques restored.  The state is arguing that the Texas Historical Commission has such jurisdiction, not the courts.

 

Lawyer Bill Kuhn, representing the Confederate group, said he would appeal to the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin.

 

In the meantime, the Sons of Confederate Veterans plans a Monday-through-Friday midday vigil, complete with the Confederate battle flag, outside the Supreme Court building, said member Terry Ayers.

 

Such a vigil also was conducted after the disputed plaques first were removed.

 

"That building was dedicated to my great-grandfather," a Confederate soldier, Ayers said.

 

One of the plaques depicted a Confederate battle flag and quoted Robert E. Lee.  The other bore the Confederate seal and said the building was dedicated to Texans who served the Confederacy.

 

They were replaced in 2000 with two other plaques, one noting that the building was constructed with money from a Confederate pension, and thus "at that time" designated as a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy.

 

The other plaque said the courts are entrusted with giving equal justice "regardless of race, creed or color."

Kuhn said his group has no problem with the plaque on open courts.  But it wants the other new plaque removed, objecting to the phrase "at that time," and the two original ones put back.

 

Assistant Attorney General John Morehead said the new plaques can be taken down only with the approval of the Historical Commission, State Preservation Board or the Legislature.

 

The case has highlighted the controversy between those who say they want to honor the South's heritage through Confederate symbols, and those who say the symbols are too weighted with slavery's memory to be displayed in such places as the building that houses the state's top court.