LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday that lower courts erred when they agreed the city properly removed the controversial John B. Castleman statue from Cherokee Triangle in 2020.

The thrust of the case was not whether the statue of Castleman — a depiction of him riding a horse, dressed in civilian clothes — served as a symbol of "racist or bigoted ideology," as former Mayor Greg Fischer has said, but whether the city followed due process in removing it.

Attorney Steve Porter, who represents a group called Friends of Louisville Public Art, has argued that two commissioners on the Historic Landmarks Commission, which voted to remove the statue, had a conflict of interest as they were hired by Fischer.

The high court agreed in a 6-1 vote.

"The decision-making participation in this matter by Louisville Metro employees is an inherent and intolerable conflict of interest," Chief Justice Laurence B. Vanmeter wrote for the majority.

"... Their employment and their being asked to sit in review of an application filed by their employer were sufficient to raise a reasonable question of impartiality such that recusal was required as a matter of law."

In addition, the high court noted that the Landmarks Commission did not issue a findings of fact to remove the statue.

The ruling does not necessarily mean the statue will be moved back to Cherokee Park but that the case will be sent back down to circuit court for the process to begin again.

Justice Angela Bisig was the only dissention, arguing there was no proof put forward that the two Fischer employees on the Landmark commission "operated under actual conflicts of interest."

Porter said he has not yet read the decision.

"I think if the city still wants to remove it, they would have to apply again and go through the process again," he said. "We are very pleased the court agreed with our view that there’s not due process."

Porter did not yet know about the immediate status of the statue in the wake of this decision.  

Kevin Trager, a spokesman for Mayor Craig Greenberg, said in a statement:

“Louisville Metro Government has no plans to place the Castleman statue back in its original location nor any interest in doing so. We are exploring our options on what to do with the statue and will keep the community informed as we move forward.”

The monument in the Highlands was the center of controversy for years because its critics argue that Castleman is closely associated with the Confederacy and white supremacy. The statue, which was erected in 1913, was vandalized numerous times.

The statue currently sits in a gated government lot, covered in bright orange spray paint.

But the group fighting to save the statue has argued that Castleman redeemed himself later in his life, renouncing the confederate cause, calling on white soldiers to salute black officers in World War I and helping to establish Louisville’s park system.

The high court agreed in June of last year to hear arguments after the state Court of Appeals upheld a Jefferson Circuit Court judge’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit.

The appeals court ruled, in part, there were "no facts to support the conflict of interest claim."

Fischer announced the removal of the Castleman and George Prentice statues in 2018, saying they served as racist symbols. The Prentice statue was removed from its spot in front of the downtown library in December 2018.

On May 9, 2019, Louisville's Landmark Commission voted to remove the Castleman statue.

The Landmark Commission's vote followed a January 2019 vote by the Cherokee Triangle Review Commission that ended in a tie, meaning the statue could not be removed.

That's when the city appealed to the Landmarks Commission, which gave the green light for the statue's removal.

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