Home // February 24 2009 > Supreme Court to rule on Mojave National Reserve cross

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Supreme Court to rule on Mojave National Reserve cross

Published: February 24, 2009

Mojave CrossThe Supreme Court will decide whether the government can maintain a cross erected by veterans in a California national park to honor fallen soldiers in the latest test of church-state separation.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the cross case will give the Roberts Court its first chance to weigh in on the First Amendment's ban on an "establishment of religion." In the past decade, the justices have been closely divided on whether religious displays, such as the Ten Commandments, can be kept on public property.

At issue now is an 8-foot tall cross in the Mojave National Preserve in Southern California. It was first erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1934 and has been maintained as a war memorial by the National Park Service.


The American Civil Liberties Union objected to the cross and filed a suit on behalf of Frank Bruno, a Catholic and former Park Service employee. The suit noted that the government had denied a request to have a Buddhist shrine erected near the cross.

Two years ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the ACLU and declared the cross an "impermissible governmental endorsement of religion."

Congress has intervened to try to save the cross by transferring a small parcel of land with the cross on it to a private group. However, the 9th Circuit judges were unswayed. This "would leave a little donut hole of land with a cross in the midst of a vast federal preserve," the appeals court said.

Bush administration lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court last fall and said the "seriously misguided decision" will require the government "to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 70 years as a memorial to fallen service members." The government also questioned whether Bruno should have standing to challenge the cross, since he lives in Oregon and suffers no obvious harm because of the Mojave cross.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the VFW, the American Legion and others said the 9th Circuit's ruling, if allowed to stand, could trigger legal challenges to the display of crosses at Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere.

The case could be an important test of church-state separation. For at least two decades, the high court has been unable to agree on a clear rule of law when confronted with religious displays on public land.

More at Chicago Tribune

 

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Recent Comments

  1. For the umpteenth time...the term "separation of church and state" needs to be removed from the media's vocabulary. There is no precedence for the term, and it's continued use only gives rise to more of this type of complaint. The second amendment only states that the government can not establish a religion. In other words we are not all going to be told that, under penalty of death, we must all adhere to one religion. This cross is a memorial, it could have been any one of a number of choices used (angels, Budha, flowers), but the choice made by the people it mattered to, was a cross, it has been standing for 70 year, how many people were forced to convert to christianity because of it?!?

    Posted By: Doni Juarez

  2. I think we should all pray for the souls of the ACLU members. They might be the only ones they'll ever get. "Father forgive them, they know not what they do"

    Posted By: Eileen Kovatch

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