South Carolina Supreme Court upholds law banning removal, renaming of war memorials

South Carolina’s highest court ruled Wednesday that a state ban on removing or renaming war memorials — including Confederate monuments — is lawful.

But the state’s Supreme Court also struck down a provision of the law that requires a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly to approve any move or renaming.

“The supermajority voting requirement is an obstacle,” the court ruled.

South Carolina’s Heritage Act was passed in 2000 after fierce debate over removing the Confederate flag from the State House.

The law forbids anyone from removing war monuments or memorials spanning from the Revolutionary War to the Persian Gulf War. It also prohibits the renaming of public property — like bridges and parks.

The legislature at the time the law was drafted said a two-thirds vote — or supermajority — would be required to override the law, but the South Carolina Supreme Court held that provision is unconstitutional because it restricts the legislative authority to later repeal the law.

Instead of the two-thirds requirement, a simple majority vote would be needed to permit renaming or removal, the court ruled.

The lawsuit was brought by Jennifer Pinckney, widow of the late Rev. and state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was murdered with eight others in the 2015 shooting at a Black church in Charleston by Dylann Roof, a White supremacist.

After the church shooting, the Confederate flag was taken down from the South Carolina State House. Roof has been sentenced to death for the murders.

Since the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis last year, progressives have been calling to remove Confederate monuments and flags from public property across the country.

In some instances, rioters defaced and toppled memorials.

Earlier this month, a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee was removed from Richmond, Virginia. The removal and dismantling of the bronze statue was celebrated by civil rights leaders.