PIERRE, S.D. – Attorneys general from 19 states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that a cross used to memorialize veterans doesn’t violate the First Amendment.
A veterans group has asked the Supreme Court to overrule an order to remove a 43-foot war memorial cross from a San Diego mountaintop after it was found to violate separation of church and state.
The cross was erected in 1954. The American Civil Liberties Union and Jewish War Veterans sued the federal government in 2006 after the land on which the cross sits was transferred from the city to the federal government. A judge in December ordered the cross removed after years of legal wrangling, but the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association and the U.S. Department of Justice want the courts to allow the cross to remain.
The attorneys general are asking the Supreme Court to provide a clearer First Amendment test for lower federal courts to avoid the need for states to enter into costly litigation over the issue.
