A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a district court judgment in favor of Vermont Law and Graduate School, ruling that the law school’s decision to obscure a controversial mural behind a barrier does not “modify or destroy” the work, and therefore does not implicate the protections of the artist’s rights set forth by the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990.

VLGS decided to stop displaying the mural in 2020 because of the way it depicts Black people. The school found that the mural could not be removed without damaging the wall on which it was painted, so it installed a temporary covering and made plans for a more permanent cover that would surround, but not touch, the surface of the mural.

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