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Neo-Confederate organization banned from coming in armed groups to Charlottesville

Members of the League of the South can no longer bring weaponry in groups of two or more to the City

<p>Police form a defensive line on the Downtown Mall during last August's Unite the Right rally.&nbsp;</p>

Police form a defensive line on the Downtown Mall during last August's Unite the Right rally. 

Members and leaders of the League of the South — a neo-Confederate organization whose members marched with white nationalists at the deadly Unite the Right rally last August — have been barred from returning to Charlottesville in groups of two or more armed with any form of weaponry, though they can return to the city unarmed. The consent decree signed by Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Richard Moore March 14 came in an ongoing suit filed by the city government, local businesses and neighborhood associations to prevent mobilization of private “alt-right” militias in the City of Charlottesville. 

Consent decrees are settlement tools used in legal disputes that allow for parties to make concessions without admitting guilt.

The decree specifically names the League of the South, its directors, officers, members and agents, national League of the South chairman Michael Tubbs and Kentucky chapter chairman Spencer Borum. These parties are blocked from “returning to Charlottesville, Virginia, as part of a unit of two or more persons acting in concert while armed with a firearm, weapon, shield, or any item whose purpose is to inflict bodily harm to any demonstration, rally, protest, or march,” on threat of court-ordered punishment.

The lawsuit, filed by Georgetown Law's Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, was on behalf of local businesses. Charlottesville City Council voted in a special session last October to join the suit. Several white nationalist individuals and organizations — including Unite the Right organizers Jason Kessler and Matthew Heimbach — were named as defendants. 

The League of the South did not respond to request for comment.

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