The removal of the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia may proceed, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, after finding groups who tried to halt it failed to prove that keeping the monument was in the public’s best interest.

US District Judge Ronnie D. Alston granted a temporary restraining order Monday, barring the memorial’s removal after a request for a preliminary injunction by the groups Defend Arlington and Save Southern Heritage Florida.

The groups claimed the Defense Department’s plan to remove the memorial violated the National Environmental Policy Act, and that the department had failed to take care of the grave sites surrounding the memorial site during the removal process.

But in an order filed Tuesday, Alston said the plaintiffs did “not establish that a preliminary injunction is in the public interest.”

“Plaintiffs’ complaints regarding the removal efforts being likely to damage the gravesites are misinformed or misleading,” the order said.