WorldNetDaily - Mt. Soledad Cross Supporters Win Again

February 23, 2007
by WorldNetDaily.com

Another court decision has endorsed the existence of a cross at the Mt. Soledad Memorial in San Diego, but the 18-year-old fight over whether it must be removed to satisfy a now-deceased lawsuit plaintiff still isn't over.

The newest decision came from the California state Supreme Court, and let stand an appellate court ruling that the decision by city voters to turn over to the federal government land on which the cross is located was proper.

"We're extremely pleased that the California Supreme Court has decided to reject this case which effectively brings an end to state litigation to remove the Mt. Soledad cross memorial," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, which specializes in constitutional law and had argued for that result.

"This represents the latest in a series of legal victories to keep the cross in place and we're confident that the final legal challenge now in federal court will ultimately fail as well," Sekulow said. "The cross memorial is an important symbol honoring veterans of our military. We believe this memorial will survive the final round of legal challenges and remain in place."

The state's high court denied a request to review the appellate court decision. The lower court had endorsed the constitutionality of a San Diego ballot initiative in which voters overwhelmingly approved a plan donating the Mt. Soledad Memorial to the federal government, but the decision was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The ACLJ had filed an amicus brief with the court earlier this month asking the state court to reject the appeal.

The ACLJ's brief suggested that the purpose of the vote was to preserve a historically significant war memorial, not to proselytize a particular religious viewpoint.

Richard Thompson, president of the Thomas More Law Center also played a key role in the case, and said in addition to winning the arguments over the validity of the San Diego vote, his organization also was successful in fending off a request by the ACLU on the issue.

The ACLU, which is spearheading attacks on the cross, had asked the state Supreme Court to "depublish" the lower court opinion. "The ACLU wanted the decision depublished so it could continue with its anti-Christian agenda free from opposing precedent," said Thomson. "This appellate court decision will forever be a stumbling block for the ACLU and we are pleased about that."

The only remaining litigation is a federal lawsuit that challenges the law signed by President Bush in 2006 that actually accepted the transfer of the property into the control of the federal government.

Just a month ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an earlier federal challenge that targeted the city of San Diego, noting that the claim was moot since the federal government, not the city, now controlled the land.

Several hundred thousand Americans, including 27,000 from California, have signed a petition assembled by the ACLJ to seek the preservation of the memorial.

The ACLJ's filing represented itself and 20 members of the 110th Congress including U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who sponsored legislation that transferred control of the Mt. Soledad Memorial to the federal government.

The case to remove the cross originally was brought on behalf of an atheist, Phillip Paulsen, who died in 2006. The dispute began in 1989, and at one point the arguments included an order for San Diego to take the cross down. But in 1998 the city sold the property to the Mt. Soledad War Memorial Association, which again was challenged in court. The sale originally was upheld but later ruled unconstitutional by the full panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco and remanded back to district court to work out a remedy.

Then Proposition A, passed by 75 percent of the voters in July 2005, called for the city to donate the cross to the federal government as the centerpiece of the veterans memorial.

As WND has reported, the cross was erected in 1954, and now honors veterans of World Wars I and II and the Korean War.