The fate of a Confederate statue torn down by
protesters was thrown back into uncertainty Wednesday when a judge overturned a settlement by the University of North Carolina's governing board that gave the monument to a Confederate heritage group along with money to preserve it.
Judge Allen Baddour ruled in Orange County court that the Sons of Confederate Veterans didn’t have standing to bring the lawsuit that led to the hastily arranged deal that gave them possession of the statue known as Silent Sam, along with $2.5 million to maintain it.
Critics had questioned how the deal was quietly struck between the Confederate group and the UNC Board of Governors in a way that allowed the lawsuit and settlement to be filed in quick succession and then approved by Baddour just before Thanksgiving.