Alabama AG challenges Madison County's Confederate statue move

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is challenging Madison County’s decision to remove a Confederate soldier statue at its courthouse. The AG is arguing the statue’s movement to a Huntsville cemetery violates a 2017 state law called the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. An Alabama judge stayed the law that protects Confederate monuments after Birmingham put plywood around a statue. The Alabama Supreme Court later stayed that lower court order. The Madison County Commission voted in October to move the monument to Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville where Confederate soldiers are buried. The board argues that its action is in keeping with the law. Marshall is asking a judge to levy a one-time fine of $25,000 for violating the law.