Lawyers: Courts correctly rejected Confederate flag lawsuit
Lawyers: Courts correctly rejected Confederate flag lawsuit
[Associated Press]
EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
,Associated Press•October 18, 2017
FILE- In this Jan. 19, 2016, file photo, Sons of Confederate Veterans and other groups parade on the grounds of the state Capitol in Jackson, Miss., in support of keeping the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. Attorneys for the Mississippi governor say two levels of federal courts have been correct in blocking a lawsuit that challenges the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag. Representing Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, assistant state attorneys general filed papers Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017, with the U.S. Supreme Court. They said Carlos Moore, an African-American attorney from Mississippi who sued the state, has failed to show he suffered harm because of the flag. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Attorneys for the Mississippi governor say two levels of federal courts have been correct in blocking a lawsuit that challenges the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag.
Representing Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, assistant state attorneys general filed papers Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court. They said Carlos Moore, an African-American attorney from Mississippi who sued the state, has failed to show he suffered harm because of the flag.
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Moore is asking the nation's high court to revive his lawsuit over the flag that the state has used since 1894. His lawsuit seeks to have the flag declared an unconstitutional relic of slavery.
Mississippi has the last state flag featuring the Confederate symbol — red field topped by a blue tilted cross dotted by 13 white stars. Critics say the symbol is racist. Supporters say it represents history.
Mississippi residents who voted in a 2001 referendum chose to keep the flag. But, the banner and other Confederate symbols have come under increased scrutiny since 2015, when nine black worshippers were shot to death in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, by a white man who had posed for photos with the rebel flag.
Moore filed his lawsuit in February 2016. A federal district judge and an appeals court ruled against him, but his attorneys asked the Supreme Court in June to consider the case during the term that began this month. The court accepts a fraction of cases on appeal.
In their filing Wednesday, attorneys for the governor wrote of Moore: "All in all, Petitioner alleges that he personally and is deeply offended by Mississippi's state flag — and the sincerity of those beliefs is not doubted." But the state attorneys said a lawsuit must show an "allegation of discriminatory treatment," and Moore failed to do that.
During an appearance Wednesday in Jackson, Bryant repeated his position that if the flag design is to be reconsidered, it should be done in another statewide election.
"I just think it's a frivolous lawsuit and I don't think the Supreme Court is going to take it up," Bryant told reporters.
Several cities and towns and all eight of the state's public universities have stopped flying the flag amid concerns that it is offensive in a state where 38 percent of the population is black. Many pulled the flag from display after the South Carolina church massacre.
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Associated Press writer Jeff Amy contributed to this report.
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Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus .
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A yahoo reader
A yahoo reader
8 hours ago
Stop the political correctness insanity. Anyone offended needs to develop thicker skin and get over it.
Dont Vote
Dont Vote
7 hours ago
Being a White Man in America, I can honestly say that I fear entering a black community. Without saying a word or carrying a sign, I will probably be executed.
c
c
8 hours ago
I wonder what blacks are going to whine about next in their never ending attempts to win the ghetto lottery.
Complicated Simpleton
Complicated Simpleton
7 hours ago
Liberals are all about peace and love. Unless you disagree. Then it's outrage, tear down statues.
Dan
Dan
7 hours ago
Yet if I filed suit against someone waving a Mexican flag here, this same media would ridicule me.
Carol
Carol
7 hours ago
The country is going insane with PC. There's a stupid battle going on in Columbus to remove the statue of Christopher Columbus. Soon there won't be anything left to remind us of how oppressed the blacks are... then what will they be able to complain about?
Michael B
Michael B
7 hours ago
If the standard is simply suffering harm from a representation, then the US flag would have to be radically changed because most anyone could claim some grievance at the behest of the federal government. Victim mentality has run rampant in the nation. Racist? By the definition of the minority community as to what racism constitutes, how is affirmative action not racist? How is the very existence and history of the NAACP not racist? How is the NFL, with 70 percent of players that are black, not enormously racist?
Mike H
Mike H
7 hours ago
All right, a decent decision. The people of Mississippi voted to keep that flag.
Ogre
Ogre
8 hours ago
Actually they voted in 2001 to make that the State Flag. Through an oversight the State of Mississippi did not officially have a flag. So in 2001 they had a vote to make the banner they had been flying as a State flag the official one.
bobby
bobby
7 hours ago
Slavery happened over 150 years ago. No one living today was a slave. Get over it. Put on your big boy pants. This is history. Quit trying to erase history like ISIS or the Taliban!
Jay
Jay
7 hours ago
What's with all the Confederate hater articles today?
calypso.handjack.69
calypso.handjack.69
7 hours ago
The south consists of the majority of active duty members in the US military. We are the first to fight in America's wars and the L A S T to get ANY sort of respect in this country. We die for the nation while the rest of you spit on us, our history, and our culture. You seem to have no problem embracing a Muslim murderer/pedophile. But HEAVEN forbid the people who die for this country have a right to THEIR HISTORY!
Sanford
Sanford
7 hours ago
Name ONE successful BLACK country or State. Hmm because there is NONE....Africa is full of countries that were prosperous under White rule and are now poverty ridden Black Tribal Cesspools..
18 U.S. Code § 2381-Treason Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
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