The City of New Haven removed a statue of Christopher Columbus from Wooster Square Park, a prominent public space. The plaintiff is an Italian-American organization that wants the statue to return to the public square. They sue the City under Section 1983, asserting the statue was removed in violation of due process. The plaintiff loses.
The case is Italian-American Defense League v. City of New Haven, a summary order issued on September 25. While Columbus was long viewed as a hero for "discovering America" in 1492, historians over the years have raised serious questions about his ill-treatment of the Native Americans who got there first. The removal of these statues, and renaming Columbas Day as Indigenous Peoples Day, is the product of the revised focus on Columbus. That's the backdrop for this case.
