A federal appeals court this week affirmed that the city of Alpharetta was allowed to bar a Sons of Confederate Veterans group from flying the Confederate battle flag in the city’s veterans day parade.
The case dates to late 2019 when city officials told the Roswell Mills Camp 1547 Sons of Confederate Veterans they could participate in the 67th Old Soldiers Day Parade — if they didn’t fly the flag.
The Sons refused and sued, saying no one would recognize them without it.
The 20-page ruling released from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was blunt. The judges referenced a United States Supreme Court decision from 2015 that ruled against the organization in a Texas case, in which they argued a specialty license plate featuring the flag was government speech. They lost.
“Some of the Sons of Confederate Veterans did not get the message,” the appeals court wrote in a decision that was released Tuesday.
Martin O’Toole, a spokesman for the Georgia division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said his group is talking to the national leadership about possibly taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The concept that the city of Alpharetta was terrified that they would be seen as endorsing the confederacy … seems misapplied as best,” O’Toole said.
City spokesman James Drinkard declined to comment because the case could still continue.
The argument around Confederate symbols has intensified over the last several years, with many people deciding to shield communities from what is viewed as a hateful symbol.
The parade briefly started and stopped after the Civil War to honor veterans but was revived in the 1950s, when the civil rights movement formed and demand for Confederate monuments spiked.
The parade, according to the city’s website, was “a way to celebrate and honor all war veterans, especially those from Alpharetta, who have defended the rights and freedoms enjoyed by everyone in the United States of America.”
The judges wrote that because the parade was to honor veterans who fought for the rights of “everyone” then it was OK to deny the flag request.
Under the Sons’ logic, the judges wrote: “If after ratification of the Bill of Rights the federal government funded and organized a parade commemorating our stunning victory over Great Britain, it would have had to allow participation of Union Jack-waving loyalists if it allowed participation of Gadsden flag-waving patriots. The Constitution does not require such an absurdity.”
The Alpharetta City Council unanimously voted in December 2019 to stop using taxpayer dollars to host the parade because of the lawsuit.
“This is a damn shame,” Mayor Jim Gilvin said at the time.
Credit: WSBTV Videos
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