A federal judge in Atlanta has refused to dismiss a lawsuit by a Roswell police officer fired for flying a Confederate flag in her front yard while parking a marked police vehicle in her driveway.

In allowing former police sergeant Sylvia Cotriss’ case against the City of Roswell, its police chief and city administrator to proceed, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen said that Cotriss’s explanation that she flew the Confederate flag as a way to honor her late husband and celebrate her Southern heritage “touches on a matter of public concern.”