Richmond judge halts removal of Robert E. Lee statue for 10 days

RICHMOND, Va. - A Richmond judge on Monday temporarily blocked Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam from removing a towering statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee from the spot where it has stood for 130 years.

A Richmond Circuit Court judge granted a 10-day injunction sought by William Gregory, who contends in a lawsuit that the state promised to "affectionately protect" the statue when it annexed the land it stands on from Henrico County. The suit identifies Gregory as the great-grandson of a couple who were signatories to the deed.

Northam, a Democrat, announced plans to remove the monument and put it in storage last week amid protests in Richmond and across the country against police brutality toward African Americans. The state appeared to be making preparations to move forward with removal this week, with no-parking signs posted nearby and neighbors notified that work was expected to begin in the coming days.

The 14-foot equestrian statue and its 50-foot base stand atop land annexed from Henrico County in the late 1890s. In the deed recording for the land transfer, the state "guaranteed" to "hold said statue and pedestal and circle of ground perpetually sacred to the monumental purpose" and to "faithfully guard it and affectionately protect it," Gregory's lawyer, Joseph Blackburn, argued in a court filing Monday.

"Our administration is still reviewing the order," Northam spokeswoman Alena Yarmosky said. "Governor Northam remains committed to removing this divisive symbol from Virginia's capital city, and we're confident in his authority to do so."

Blackburn emailed a copy of the order to The Washington Post on Monday evening but did not respond to requests for comment. The judge's name is not clearly legible on the order.

According to the website of the Monument Avenue Preservation Society, preparations for the memorial began when Lee died in 1870, but drawing up plans, selecting a sculptor and finding a site took the better part of 17 years. Eventually, the city annexed 292 acres from Henrico County to put the statue on what had been a baseball field on the edge of tobacco farms.

Northam has supported removal of the statue since the deadly Unite the Right white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, but he had long deferred to local sentiment. He did not say exactly when removal would take place.

Preparations appeared to be underway for the removal this week, as the city posted signs along Monument Avenue warning that it would be temporarily closed to parking from 5 p.m. Monday until 5 p.m. Friday. Several residents reported that authorities had been going to houses and explaining that the state was making preparations to move the statue, though it was unclear whether the authorities were from the city or the state. A state inspection crew was at the site Monday, taking measurements of the statue.

Lee is the only one of the five Confederate figures along Monument Avenue that is owned by the state. The other four are owed by the city of Richmond. City Council members and Mayor Levar Stoney, a Democrat, pledged last week to remove those.