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The Supreme Court on Thursday said a law preventing the removal of war monuments does not apply to Charlottesville's statues of Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson.Â
The ruling was handed down in Charlottesville's appeal of a lower court ruling, with the state's highest court saying in part that a previous law preventing the removal of war monuments does not apply to statues built before 1997.
Released Thursday morning, the opinion signals the end of a years long legal battle to remove two Confederate statues in downtown Charlottesville that in its wake saw a deadly rally, legislative change and the removal of dozens statues across the country.