RALEIGH, N.C. — A statue of a 19th-century North Carolina Supreme Court justice has been taken away by workers from the entrance of the state Court of Appeals building.
Chief Justice Thomas Ruffin is known in part for a ruling in which he concluded a slave owner’s power over a slave was absolute. The building is located across the street from the old state Capitol and once housed the Supreme Court. The statue was removed following recent topplings and damage to Confederate monuments in North Carolina and in other states.
The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will store the statue temporarily.