Black Mountain, NC - The Board of Directors of the Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC) are shocked and disappointed by the March 22nd decision of Texas District Judge Paul Gray in his refusal to do his judicial duty in the Texas Supreme Court Plaques case. This case was filed 4 years ago against the State of Texas by the Texas Division Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV).

Kirk D. Lyons, Chief Trial Counsel of the SLRC was the original attorney of record for the SCV in the lawsuit against the actions of then Governor George Bush and others in unconstitutionally removing the Confederate Memorial plaques, placed there by the voters of Texas.

There has only been one suit against the State, filed in 2000 - there was no earlier unsuccessful lawsuit as incorrectly reported by the Associated Press.  The SLRC staff researched, theorized and drafted the issues in the original lawsuit.  Lyons and the SLRC were replaced as Plaintiff's counsel by Dallas Attorney Bill Kuhn.
Kuhn amended the Complaint to additional violations of the Texas Antiquities Code.

"What nobody wants to talk about and is central to this issue, is that Governor Bush and Chief Justice Thomas Phillips violated the Texas Constitution in their cloak and dagger removal of the Confederate dedicatory plaques," said Lyons. "The court was extremely disingenuous in denying its jurisdiction in the matter and claiming the 2001 Monument Protection Bill gives jurisdiction to the Texas Historical Commission.  First the Texas Historical Commission CANNOT decide a constitutional question AND secondly, the Court COULD decide the constitutional issue, issue a declaratory judgment that the original plaques were removed contrary to law and the Constitution and then hand the matter over to the THC." Lyons added.

"Any discussion of the Plaques that does not first and foremost address the serious constitutional issues raised by the cavalier actions of Texas elected officials misses the point of the Plaque lawsuit altogether.  The violations of statutory law, though many and egregious, pale in contrast to the Constitutional question.  The people of Texas put those plaques up.  Can a handful of politicians take them down in the dead of night, without a hearing and as a
political favor to the NAACP?"  Quoting SLRC Chairman of the Board Lourie A. Salley ,III.

"Every Texas citizen, whether Black, White, Red or Brown, has lost liberty today because of the politically correct timidity of the Court." Said H.K. Edgerton SLRC Board of Advisors Chairman and a former President of the Asheville Branch, NAACP.  Edgerton is in the midst of a 260 mile march to Charleston to raise awareness of Confederate Heritage issues and honor the crew of the CSS Hunley, whose funeral he is marching to.

"As soon as I reach Charleston, I will begin preparations to re-join the Confederate-Southern American vigil in front of the Texas Supreme Court Building.  If the sellout politicians don't like seeing Confederate flags on bronze plaques inside the building, I hope they love seeing Confederate flags every day in front of the building."

"It is not over," said Edgerton & Lyons. It will never be over until the Confederate memorial plaques are rightfully returned to their place in the Supreme Court Building - a building designated constitutionally as a memorial to Texans who served the Confederacy.

For more background on the plaques, see our Texas plaques webpage: