BY TYLER HAMMEL
The Daily Progress
The Lee statue in downtown Charlottesville s Emancipation Park was covered Wednesday by city crews after a City Council vote.
The city of Charlottesville has received an official mandate from the Supreme Court of Virginia, clearing the way for the removal of two downtown Confederate statues.
Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court sided with the city in its appeal of a Charlottesville Circuit Court ruling that found that the City Council violated state code when it voted to remove the statues. The court ruled in part that a previous law preventing the removal of war monuments did not apply to statues erected before 1997, a view long held by city officials.