A Mississippi man who sued in federal court against the state’s flag use of the Confederate emblem is taking his case to the Supreme Court. The papers were filed yesterday, arguing that the lower courts were wrong to reject his argument that Confederate-themed flag is “state-sanctioned hate speech” for including a symbol of white supremacy. AP reports:
“...[A]ttorneys for Carlos Moore said lower courts were wrong to reject his argument that the flag is a symbol of white supremacy that harms him and his young daughter by violating the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection to all citizens.
His attorneys wrote that under the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' ruling against Moore, "a city could adopt 'White Supremacy Forever' as its official motto; or a county could incorporate an image of white hooded figures and a noose hanging from a tree into its county seal; or a state could incorporate a Nazi swastika, as an endorsement of Aryan/white supremacy, in its state flag."
The case was earlier dismissed in the 5th Circuit Court on the grounds that Moore didn’t properly prove that the flag caused him injury. The judge did, however, say in his ruling that he does agree that the Confederate flag is a symbol of white supremacy.
Detractors claim the flag is about southern heritage, but history is not on their side. The creator of the Confederate flag himself William Tappan Thompson explained very clearly what the flag means in an editorial back in 1863:
As a people we are fighting to maintain the heavenly ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause. Such a flag would be a suitable emblem of our young confederacy, and sustained by the brave hearts and strong arms of the south, it would soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as THE WHITE MAN’S FLAG.”
The Supreme Court will announce in October whether it decided to take on the case.