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Officials Won't Have To Testify About Monument Removal

J. Stephen Conn / Flickr.com
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https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

A federal judge has ruled that four members of a local governing board in Louisiana don't have to submit to questions from lawyers fighting the removal of a Confederate monument from courthouse grounds.

The four members of the Caddo Parish Commission in north Louisiana voted for a resolution last year authorizing removal of the monument at the Caddo courthouse in Shreveport.

The Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy is fighting removal.

The group's lawyers planned to question the commissioners about their votes in depositions.

The commissioners argued that they are legally immune from having to testify about the motives for their votes. U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Hornsby agreed in a Tuesday ruling. A trial is set for June 25.