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happy may day to everyone except the crusty old neoconfederates suing the city over the statues. there’s nothing else on the docket this afternoon so i have every reason to expect this motions hearing to take hours.
judge moore has already ruled that the statues are “war memorials,” which was a central issue in this case. he’ll likely discuss that ruling today.
city attorney john blair & councilor kathy galvin have both entered the courthouse. deputy city atty lisa robertson has been handling the case for the city - i haven’t seen blair at prior hearings. galvin, a named defendant in the case, has also not been present to this point.
this case has gone on for so long and is such a mess that no one involved, the judge included, can remember what’s already been ruled on. moore stated at a previous hearing that there have been more motions in this case than any he’s ever been involved in
today was only a status hearing... but it still managed to last an hour and a half. moore addressed the ruling he issued last week and says the next issue he’ll look at is whether individual defendants are protected by statutory immunity.
four of the five members of the 2016-2017 city council (all 5 of whom are named defendants) were in the gallery today - i’ve not seen them at previous hearings. (bob fenwick was the only one of the five not present today)
judge moore went out of his way to clarify today that his ruling last week that the state statute protecting war memorials DOES apply does not mean this case is over, saying he saw that sentiment in the community response to media coverage of the ruling.
this case is still set for trial in september. what issues remain for trial is still up in the air. he’ll issue a ruling in the next few weeks about the statutory immunity of individual defendants.
realizing now that the little old racist lady i kept catching staring at me during the hearing was probably looking at my pin. 
