Fox News - GOP Lawmakers Fight to Save Cross at California War Memorial
By FoxNews.com
Several Republican lawmakers are urging a federal district court in California to block the removal of a war memorial cross in a San Diego public park that was declared unconstitutional in 2011.
The American Center for Law and Justice on Thursday filed a brief on behalf of the 18 members of Congress in the latest legal effort to protect the 29-foot cross, which was dedicated in 1954 in honor of Korean War veterans.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a unanimous decision in 2011 declaring the cross unconstitutional because it conveys a message of government endorsement of religion. In 2012, the Supreme Court refused to take the case.
ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow said putting the memorial in the hands of a private nonprofit group, the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, would be an appropriate alternative to removing the memorial's cross. . . .