A man has filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Confederate statue outside the Williamson County Courthouse in Georgetown should be removed because it violates the federal civil rights of Blackresidents and the U.S. Constitution.
Jason Norwood, a Georgetown resident who is Black, says in the lawsuit that the monument is discriminatory because it celebrates secession, slavery, traitors and white supremacy. Supporters of the statue have said it honors the history and heritage of the Confederate veterans, some of whom helped build Williamson County.
Norwood filed the lawsuit against Williamson County, the county commissioners, the Williamson County Historical Commission and the Texas Historical Commission. The lawsuit was also filed against the Williamson County Grays and Shelby Little, who is a member of the Grays. The Grays are a group that honors Confederates that fought during the Civil War.
Williamson County and the Texas Historical Commission do not comment about pending litigation, according to spokespeople for those groups. The Williamson County Grays and Little did not respond to a request for comment.
Norwood said he is representing himself in the lawsuit filed Aug. 11 because he is a disabled veteran and cannot afford a lawyer. He is asking for $3 million in damages in the lawsuit but said he would dismiss the suit if the statue was removed.
University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson, who specializes in legal history involving controversial public monuments, said that while he thinks the lawsuit was "an excellently written complaint,"he doesn't think Norwood can win it because judges don't want to stray into such a "bearpit" of an issue.
The 21-foot statue of a Confederate soldier was erected in 1916 with money raised by the United Daughters of the Confederacy. It has been controversial for several years, withsome people asking that it be removed and otherswho want it to stay where it is.
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According the suit, the Confederate statue violates portions of the U.S. Constitution, including the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that prohibits states from discriminating on the basis of race. The amendment also applies to local governments, the lawsuit says.
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"The placement of the monument on the grounds of the courthouse in Georgetown is facially discriminatory on the basis of race because the central plank of the Confederacy was to protect and defend an economy and way of life predicated on white supremacy and the subjugation of Black Americans, manifested through the enslavement of black people," the lawsuit says. "Black residents have for years had to a walk past the monument, a statute honoring those who fought to ensure their continued subjugation and enslavement, every time they entered the courthouse."
The presence of the statue on courthouse grounds also violates the part of the federal Civil Rights Act that entitles people to enjoy public accommodations without discrimination on the grounds of race, according to the lawsuit. It said the courthouse grounds are equivalent to a public park because regularly scheduled activities take place there, including concerts and holiday celebrations.
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Levinson said that no federal judge that he is aware of has ever ordered the removal of a Confederate statue because "there's no good reason to read the Constitution or statutes that broadly."
Almost all of the controversies about public monuments are resolved by local governments taking actions, he said. Levinson said he personally thinks the Confederate statue should be removed from the grounds of the Williamson County courthouse because it's "crystal clear the Confederate soldiers and their leaders are not our collective heroes."
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The Williamson County commissioners do not have the power to remove the statue without submitting a request to the Williamson County Historical Association, which in turn would send a request to the Texas Historical Commission.
Norwood's lawsuit said the commissioners have been ignoring the Confederate statue issue for years. The commissioners have refused to accept two separate petitions with almost 10,000 signatures in the past two years asking for the monument to be removed, the lawsuit says.
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It said the commissioners also voted in October 2020 to form a committee to study the monument but have never appointed any committee members.
Commissioner Russ Boles, whose idea it was to from the committee, said several people provided information since 2020 about the statue's history and suggestions about what to do with it, so there is no longer the need to form a committee.
A member of the Williamson County Commissioners Court can place an item on the agenda to discuss whether or not to remove the statue, said Commissioner Terry Cook.
But the item can'tbe discussed by the court untilanother member seconds the motion during ameeting, Cook said. "No one wants to go there and to get in that business," she said.
Cook said she is in favor of moving the statue because it's not "appropriate to have a white supremacy statue in a public space."
Commissioners Cynthia Long and Boles declined to discuss the Confederate statue because of the pending lawsuit. Commissioners Valerie Covey as well as County Judge Bill Gravell did not respond to a request for comment about whether they would agree to a discussion in court about the statue.
A motion by two members of the Georgetown City Council to send a resolution to the Commissions Court asking for the relocation of the statue failed to pass in June 2020.
In 2021, the city of Georgetown said it would no longer allow memorial bricks, including those honoring Confederate soldiers, to be placed on the four corners of the sidewalk around the Williamson County Courthouse.
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