“Last week, the US Supreme Court ruled that states could indeed prevent the confederate emblem from being placed on their license plates, directly contradicting the prior court rulings in Virginia,” McAuliffe said in a statement. “Accordingly, I have directed the following actions to remove the Confederate emblem from state-issued license plates.”
The governor said he is now working with state officials to develop a plan to replace those Virginia plates “as quickly as possible.”
“These steps will, I hope, make clear that this Commonwealth does not support the display of the Confederate battle flag or the message it sends to the rest of the world,” McAuliffe said.
The Virginia governor’s decision to remove the confederate flag follows similar calls from South Carolina and US presidential hopefuls.
On Monday, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said the Confederate flag would be removed from the grounds of the state capitol building after nine African-Americans were killed by a racist white man during a church service last week.
