AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A Southern heritage group has lost an appeal to block the removal of a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis at the University of Texas.

A state district judge on Thursday rejected efforts by the Sons of Confederate Veterans to force the university to leave the statue near the campus’s iconic clock tower.

Attorney Kirk D. Lyons said the group appealed that decision Friday to the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, but lost again.

University President Greg Fenves recently ordered the statue moved to a museum.

Campus officials have said they plan to remove the nearly century-old Davis statue within the next “few days” but have given no specific timeline.

The statue has been targeted by vandals and criticized as a relic of the school’s racist past.

Sons of Confederate Veterans Loses Another Appeal on Moving the Jefferson Davis Statue at UT - WTAW | WTAW