San Diego News Services - Conservative Legal Group Backs Effort to Save Mt. Soledad Cross by Filing Brief at Supreme Court

June 29, 2006

SAN DIEGO A conservative legal organization announced Wednesday it filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting the city of San Diego's bid for a stay of a court order requiring removal of the Mount Soledad cross.

The filing by the American Center for Law and Justice backs a request filed by the City Attorney's Office with the high court Tuesday to put on hold an order by U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. to remove the 29-foot tall cross by Aug. 1.

Under the federal judge's ruling, the city will accrue a $5,000-per-day fine for every day following that date that the cross remains on the municipally owned property.

The judge first ordered the cross to be removed in 1991, and its fate has been tied up in court ever since.

Three 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals justices denied a stay of the judge's latest order.

With the clock running and a federal appeals court that rejected the city's request without giving it proper consideration the Supreme Court has an important opportunity to step in and put the brakes on a legal process that fast-tracks the removal of the cross, said ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow.

Supporters of the cross note that it was created in 1954 as a memorial to veterans of the Korean War.

The ACLJ brief states that the public has a vital interest in ensuring that centuries-old American traditions and practices are not declared unconstitutional without careful and accurate judicial review of all issues involved.

The Establishment Clause certainly does not require that crosses be removed from Mount Soledad, Arlington National Cemetery and the countless other places around the country where the lives and sacrifices of veterans are commemorated, the brief says.

Last year, a proposition designed to save the cross by transferring ownership to the federal government gained support of 76 percent of voters.

The referendum was declared unconstitutional by another judge.

Three local congressmen, Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, introduced a bill this week seeking to transfer ownership of the cross.