The ruling is the latest turn in a long-running battle over the statues of the Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
Some, including the city of Charlottesville, which was sued after the City Council initially voted to remove the Lee statue, see the statues as monuments to racism. But others, including a group of citizens who filed the lawsuit six months before the 2017 rally, argue that they are Civil War memorials.
Judge Richard E. Moore of Charlottesville Circuit Court said in a letter dated April 25 that the statues can be viewed as both monuments to the war and as symbols of racism, but only because both sides in the case agree that they depict Confederate military leaders. That inherently makes them war memorials, he wrote.
“While some people obviously see Lee and Jackson as symbols of white supremacy, others see them as brilliant military tacticians or complex leaders in a difficult time,” the judge wrote. He added, “In either event, the statues to them under the undisputed facts of this case still are monuments and memorials to them, as veterans of the Civil War.”
The lawsuit named the city, the City Council and individual councilors.
The white nationalist rally in August 2017 was organized to oppose a City Council vote to remove the statue of Lee. It resulted in the death of a counterprotester, and two state troopers were killed in a helicopter crash as they monitored the event.
Under state law, local governments have the authority to authorize the building of war memorials, but they are forbidden from removing, damaging or defacing them. That power rests with the state government.
One remaining question is whether prohibiting the removal of the statues violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Virginia and U.S. Constitutions. Another is whether elected city councilors can be sued for votes they cast while in office.
Moore said in his ruling that he would address those arguments in the coming days and weeks.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.