A towering statue of Robert E. Lee in Virginia’s capital that survived a summer of Confederate monument toppling can be removed, a state judge ruled on Tuesday.
The judge, W. Reilly Marchant of Richmond Circuit Court, affirmed orders issued in June by the state’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, directing the removal of the 21-foot statue, which sits on a 40-foot base. But the judge stayed his decision, allowing the monument to remain in place pending an appeal from the plaintiffs who had challenged the governor’s order.
Patrick McSweeney, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, a group of…
