The Orange County Board of Adjustment rejected an appeal by a Hillsborough resident over a large Confederate flag on his private property on Monday.

The board heard the case of Robert Hall Jr., who lives near U.S. Highway 70 and has had a large Confederate flag raised since April 2018. Hall was appealing his flag’s violation of the county’s Unified Development Ordinance, which has an amendment limiting the size of a flag and flagpole. Hall, who says his flag is 375 square feet compared to the county’s 24 square-foot limit, argued the ordinance violates his constitutional right to freedom of speech. The board ruled against Hall with a majority vote.

Hall also noted when filing his appeal that many public comments at county board meetings explicitly or implicitly referred to his Confederate flag as the reason rules were needed. His flag was raised in April, roughly a month after a number of Orange County residents addressed the Board of County Commissioners to express concern regarding the possibility of massive Confederate flags being raised along Highway 70 and NC-54 outside of Chapel Hill. The discussions sparked the board to consider an amendment to limit flag size, which was passed in May.

Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County, or ACTBAC, helped Hall install the flag and praised it on Facebook after it was raised. ACTBAC has been characterized as a Neo-Confederate hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Following the board’s ruling, an attorney for Hall told WRAL that her client will likely file a lawsuit to continue flying the flag. She said Hall spent $10,000 to construct the flag and flagpole.

Photo via Alamance County Taking Back Alamance County Facebook Page.

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