Southern Legal Resource Center
Encyclopedia
The Southern Legal Resource Center, Inc.(SLRC) is a South Carolina
non-profit public law
corporation which offers legal support to defend what they see as First Amendment
violations, violation of civil rights
, or discrimination
of advocates of Southern Heritage.
, and Lourie A. Salley, III. Lyons was appointed Chief Trial Counsel, a position he still holds, and Salley became the firm's first Board Chairman. The organization is a registered South Carolina corporation with its executive offices in Black Mountain
, North Carolina
.
In 1996, the SLRC successfully defended the “Blacksburg (SC) 7” and in 1999 sued a Greenville, South Carolina, private academy on behalf of Dr. Winston McCuen, a teacher at the school who had been fired for refusing to remove a Confederate flag that was part of a classroom historical display, and for refusing to salute the US in protest.
In 2004 the SLRC hired advertising executive and Southern activist Roger McCredie as its full-time Executive Director. Under McCredie the organization doubled the size of its Board of Directors, increased its advertising program and undertook an ambitious five-year growth and development plan.
that would afford federal legal protection for what Lyons termed “Confederate
Southern Americans.” Using this interpretation of Civil Rights law, the SLRC undertook cases on behalf of Federal Aviation Administration
workers in Florida, utility company employees in South Carolina, workers at a DuPont plant in Virginia (the "DuPont Seven"), and Cherokee students in Alabama. Federal judges have shown an almost universal hostility to legal protection or even recognition for “Confederate Southern Americans,” but Lyons and the SLRC still advocate for the group claiming an increase in the number of job-related persecution of “Confederate Southern Americans” and a paucity of legal protection in the workplace save for cases that come under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lyons has noted that “Republican
judges are adamantly opposed to any extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Democratic
Judges are hostile to almost all things Confederate.”
The SLRC has supported the rights of students to use and display Confederate symbols. Its most significant victory was Castorina v. Madison County Schools, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
in 2001 overturned a federal district court's ruling in favor of a Kentucky school board's ban on student displays of Confederate symbols, and remanded the case for further proceedings. In 2006 the Castorina decision led to an out-of-court award of damages for Jacqueline Duty, an SLRC client who had sued her own school board after she was barred from attending her high school prom in a Confederate flag-patterned evening gown.
(SPLC), which has frequently attacked the SLRC by citing Lyons' pre-SLRC defense of some controversial right-wing figures such as Aryan Nations
members, White Aryan Resistance
founder Tom Metzger
and Lyons 1990 marriage to the sister of jailed Order
defendant David Tate. The SPLC also criticized Lyons tie to Deborah Davila's FBI espionage
case.
In addition the SPLC has called Southern Legal's fundraising practices “deceitful” citing, for example, "the SLRC Web site detailed two disputes under a headline that read 'Cases Pending,' implying that the SLRC represented the parties involved. In both cases, the plaintiff's families say Lyons actually did very little for them."
In 1997 Kirk Lyons and SLRC Director Neill Payne befriended Asheville
NAACP President H. K. Edgerton
. In response, the NAACP deprived Edgerton of his presidency. Edgerton became a “born-again Confederate" and for a time served as an SLRC Director and Chairman of the SLRC’s Board of Advisors.
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
non-profit public law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
corporation which offers legal support to defend what they see as First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
violations, violation of civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
, or discrimination
Discrimination
Discrimination is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It involves the actual behaviors towards groups such as excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to another group. The term began to be...
of advocates of Southern Heritage.
History
The SLRC was founded in 1995 by a group of four attorneys: Carl A. Barrington (deceased), Kirk David Lyons, Larry NormanLarry Norman
Larry David Norman was an American Christian musician, singer, songwriter, record label owner, and record producer, who worked with Christian rock music...
, and Lourie A. Salley, III. Lyons was appointed Chief Trial Counsel, a position he still holds, and Salley became the firm's first Board Chairman. The organization is a registered South Carolina corporation with its executive offices in Black Mountain
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Black Mountain is a town in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 7,511 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named for the Black Mountain range of the Blue Ridge range in the Southern Appalachians.-History:Black...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
In 1996, the SLRC successfully defended the “Blacksburg (SC) 7” and in 1999 sued a Greenville, South Carolina, private academy on behalf of Dr. Winston McCuen, a teacher at the school who had been fired for refusing to remove a Confederate flag that was part of a classroom historical display, and for refusing to salute the US in protest.
In 2004 the SLRC hired advertising executive and Southern activist Roger McCredie as its full-time Executive Director. Under McCredie the organization doubled the size of its Board of Directors, increased its advertising program and undertook an ambitious five-year growth and development plan.
SLRC Advocacy
The SLRC, was the first law firm to promote a novel legal theory developed by Lyons that combined First Amendment protection with an interpretation of “National Origin” provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a landmark piece of legislation in the United States that outlawed major forms of discrimination against African Americans and women, including racial segregation...
that would afford federal legal protection for what Lyons termed “Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
Southern Americans.” Using this interpretation of Civil Rights law, the SLRC undertook cases on behalf of Federal Aviation Administration
Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
workers in Florida, utility company employees in South Carolina, workers at a DuPont plant in Virginia (the "DuPont Seven"), and Cherokee students in Alabama. Federal judges have shown an almost universal hostility to legal protection or even recognition for “Confederate Southern Americans,” but Lyons and the SLRC still advocate for the group claiming an increase in the number of job-related persecution of “Confederate Southern Americans” and a paucity of legal protection in the workplace save for cases that come under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Lyons has noted that “Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
judges are adamantly opposed to any extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Judges are hostile to almost all things Confederate.”
The SLRC has supported the rights of students to use and display Confederate symbols. Its most significant victory was Castorina v. Madison County Schools, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...
in 2001 overturned a federal district court's ruling in favor of a Kentucky school board's ban on student displays of Confederate symbols, and remanded the case for further proceedings. In 2006 the Castorina decision led to an out-of-court award of damages for Jacqueline Duty, an SLRC client who had sued her own school board after she was barred from attending her high school prom in a Confederate flag-patterned evening gown.
Criticism
The SLRC has drawn extensive fire from the Southern Poverty Law CenterSouthern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
(SPLC), which has frequently attacked the SLRC by citing Lyons' pre-SLRC defense of some controversial right-wing figures such as Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a white supremacist religious organization originally based in Hayden Lake, Idaho. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group in the 1970s, as an arm of the Christian Identity organization Church of Jesus Christ–Christian...
members, White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance
White Aryan Resistance is a neo-Nazi white separatist organization founded and led by former Ku Klux Klan leader Tom Metzger. Part of the American far right, it is based in Warsaw, Indiana and is incorporated as a business....
founder Tom Metzger
Tom Metzger
Thomas Metzger is an American white nationalist who founded White Aryan Resistance . His far-right activist groups, including WAR, have been monitored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an American organization that tracks hate groups...
and Lyons 1990 marriage to the sister of jailed Order
The Order (group)
The Order, also known as the Brüder Schweigen or Silent Brotherhood, was an organization active in the United States between 1983 and 1984...
defendant David Tate. The SPLC also criticized Lyons tie to Deborah Davila's FBI espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
case.
In addition the SPLC has called Southern Legal's fundraising practices “deceitful” citing, for example, "the SLRC Web site detailed two disputes under a headline that read 'Cases Pending,' implying that the SLRC represented the parties involved. In both cases, the plaintiff's families say Lyons actually did very little for them."
In 1997 Kirk Lyons and SLRC Director Neill Payne befriended Asheville
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville is a city in and the county seat of Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. It is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the 11th largest city in North Carolina. The City is home to the United States National Climatic Data Center , which is the world's largest active...
NAACP President H. K. Edgerton
H. K. Edgerton
H. K. Edgerton is a black Southern heritage activist and former president of the NAACP's Asheville, North Carolina, branch.Edgerton runs a website, , which provides Southern viewpoints such as that there was and remains a feeling of brotherhood between black Americans, slave and free, historically...
. In response, the NAACP deprived Edgerton of his presidency. Edgerton became a “born-again Confederate" and for a time served as an SLRC Director and Chairman of the SLRC’s Board of Advisors.
"Confederate Southern Americans"
The SLRC has called on "Confederate Southern Americans" to identify as a separate race on the 2010 United States Census form.External links
- Official website
- "In the Lyons Den: Despite his extremism, Kirk Lyons, a white supremacist lawyer whose clients have been a 'Who's Who' of the radical right, is becoming the attorney for the neo-Confederate movement", SPLCSouthern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
, Summer 2000 - "Cashing in on the Confederacy: A North Carolina legal group calls itself the leading advocate for 'Confederate Americans.' Its dismal record suggests otherwise" by Heidi Beirich and Mark Potok, SPLCSouthern Poverty Law CenterThe Southern Poverty Law Center is an American nonprofit civil rights organization noted for its legal victories against white supremacist groups; legal representation for victims of hate groups; monitoring of alleged hate groups, militias and extremist organizations; and educational programs that...
, Spring 2003 - Kentucky Division SCV webpage on Confederate Gown lawsuit (with photographs)