Law Commons^™

How Devolved Is Too Devolved?: A Comparative Analysis Examining The Allocation Of Power Between State And Local Government Through The Lens Of The Confederate Monument Controversy, W. Davis Riddle

Georgia Law Review

At various critical junctures in our nation’s history, lawmakers have struggled to strike the proper balance between centralization and delegation of authority. Recently, the debate over whether to remove Confederate monuments has again brought to the fore this centuries-old struggle. Beginning in 2000, state legislatures throughout the South enacted statutes primarily designed to protect Civil War monuments, which in the South predominantly pay tribute to the Confederate cause. Recent attempts by Southern localities to remove Confederate monuments have revealed the inadequacy of these recently-enacted statutes. Virtually every state legislature that has successfully passed a statute on the topic has produced …