Alpharetta city officials were within their rights to tell the Sons of Confederate Veterans they couldn’t display the Confederate battle flag in the city’s 2019 Old Soldiers Day Parade, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled Friday.

U.S. District Judge William “Billy” Ray of the Northern District of Georgia held that the parade—which was inaugurated after the Civil War and originally intended to recognize Confederate soldiers—was a form of government speech and, as such, the city was within its right to bar the SCV from carrying or displaying the Confederate battle flag.