DALLAS _ Dallas officials can move forward with removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from an Oak Lawn park, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater dissolved the temporary restraining order that he had issued Wednesday, halting the removal that was already underway.
The motion for the restraining order was filed by Hiram Patterson and the Sons of Confederate Veterans, who complained to the court that the City Council had violated the First Amendment and the right to due process. Fitzwater said after a hearing Thursday that the plaintiffs failed to show in arguments and in their filings that the city had done either.
The statue will now come down sometime "over the next few days," said Kim Tolbert, the chief of staff for City Manager T.C. Broadnax.
Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway said the statue "will eventually be removed," but couldn't say when.
"We'll allow some time to get ourselves together and begin to determine what our next moves will be," Caraway said.
Caraway had helped write the resolution calling for the immediate removal. He and other council members had basked in the spectacle of the attempted removal Wednesday after the near-unanimous vote in support.
Crews had already draped a harness over the 14-foot-tall sculpture when Fitzwater's temporary order was served Wednesday. Michael van Enter, the conservator hired by the city to oversee the statue's removal, believed crews were only about a half-hour away from shaking loose the statue, which has sat in Lee Park since 1936.
North Carolina-based attorney Kirk Lyons said Wednesday that he wanted to prevent "irreparable injury" to his client that would be caused by the statue's removal. He said in the filing that the removal would violate the monuments' right to free speech.
Another plaintiff attorney, Austin-based lawyer David Vandenberg argued in court Thursday that it was "extraordinarily dangerous" for the government to have control over the statues in a public place.
"Where will this end? And that's our great concern," Vandenberg said. "The government shouldn't be in the business of determining the meaning of public symbols."
Senior Executive Assistant City Attorney Chris Caso rebutted the claims in a response filed Thursday, saying that "being insulted by or disagreeing with the plans for the monument does not equate to a specific injury."
Caso also argued in court that the plaintiffs' argument that the city could install a monument but never remove it _ Vandenberg called removal of monuments "an untouched" area of law _ was nonsense. And Caso said the city had in no way restricted the Sons of Confederate Veterans' right to free speech.
"They are fully free to protest and exercise their First Amendment rights if they disagree," Caso said.
Fitzwater seemed to agree, telling Vandenberg his arguments sounded "alarming" and "would seem to undercut the Democratic process."
City Attorney Larry Casto said after the hearing that the city had expected the judge to lift the temporary restraining order.
"The City Council has invited and engaged all citizens to engage in this very important issue," Casto said. "The judge's ruling today recognized the legality and appropriateness of this process, and as we move forward, we'll continue to remain open and transparent."
The mayor's Confederate monuments task force will get public input Thursday evening on the statue's future. The council has directed the task force to make recommendations to the city about what to do with the Lee statue, the city's other Confederate monuments near City Hall and streets named after Confederate leaders.
Dozens of speakers gave already spoke out for and against the statue's removal Wednesday _ a meeting that Caso argued in court had constituted due process and Democratic principles at work.
A few of the speakers, including a man who said he's a descendant of Lee's, grumbled after the hearing that the city was erasing history.
"They have taken that statue from the citizens of Dallas, and what they've done with it is they're stealing it right now as we're standing here," John Lee said.
Patterson, the plaintiff, did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the hearing Thursday. He said before the case that he doesn't have racial motives for asking to keep the statue up, and said he is in no way a white supremacist.
The Lee statue, he said, is of a monument to a "historical American."
"I believe it's a statue and monument of cultural significance," said Patterson, 66. "I don't believe in tearing down monuments for the sake of tearing down monuments because some people may not agree with the premise of the monuments."
Patterson, who said he served two tours in Iraq for the Navy, said he was asked by the local Sons of Confederate Veterans to take part in the lawsuit since he lives in Dallas. He said he went to visit the statue up close on Sunday because of all the hubbub.
At the park on Thursday afternoon, dozens of people wandered around the metal barricades surrounding the Lee statue.
Joggers stopped to snap pictures, other people posed for selfies in front of it. One man was draped in a Confederate flag.
Dan Lewis, a California native who now lives on Lake Kiowa in North Texas, drove down Thursday to Lee Park to see what would happen to the statue.
"I say leave it. It's a beautiful piece of art," Lewis said. "And it's a beautiful day here in Dallas, but it will be a sad day if this statue comes down."
