Appeals Court Backs Ruling That Desert Cross Is Unconstitutional

[peterh]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cross8jun08,1,7168722.story?coll=la-headlines-california

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling that a large white cross in the middle of the Mojave National Preserve violates the the U.S. Constitution.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena "took a look at this issue and concluded that the case couldn't be clearer; a religious symbol on government property violates the Constitution," said Peter Eliasberg, managing attorney for the ACLU of Southern California. "At every level, the courts have rightly agreed with this principle."

The lower court's ruling in the ACLU's favor was appealed by a group that included Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, Jonathan Jarvis, director of the Interior Department's Pacific West Region, and Mary Martin, superintendent of the national preserve.

Last week, Los Angeles County supervisors decided to remove the tiny gold cross from the county seal rather than defend it against a threatened ACLU lawsuit. Advised by county lawyers that the cross on the seal might not withstand a court challenge, supervisors followed the lead of the city of Redlands, which agreed to remove a cross from its logo after the ACLU threatened legal action.






Nothing would tickle me more than to see the ACLU go after the state constitution next or somewhere down the road (We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom…). The cultural war has many fronts with mythology being one of the more important ones….