War Memorial in Violation of First Amendment?
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/05/supreme.court.veterans.cross/i...
A federal judge has ordered the Mojave Cross, a war memorial erected by a veterans group 75 years ago, to be covered. It's boxed in plywood.The issue is less about what the cross symbolizes and more about where it sits: In the middle of the Mojave National Preserve, which is government land.
The high court on Wednesday will consider whether the display violates the First Amendment's provision for a separation of church and state.
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A federal court ordered the cross removed earlier this decade. A judge ruled that until the dispute is settled the cross had to be covered.
In 2001 Congress got involved. Lawmakers prohibited the Park Service from spending federal dollars to remove the display. A year later, they designated the site a national memorial similar to the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore.
More importantly, the Republican-led Congress agreed to transfer one acre of land around the cross in exchange for five private acres inside the preserve. A San Francisco, California-based appeals court turned that offer down, saying it failed to satisfy Constitutional concerns.
The land swap "would leave a little donut hole of land with a cross in the midst of a vast federal preserve" the court said.
The Supreme Court has traditionally taken a case-by-case approach to similar First Amendment cases. Among other things, it has upheld tax exemptions for churches and the mention of "God" on U.S. currency.
At the same time, it has banned government-sponsored school prayer and imposed limits on public aid to parochial schools.
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This time, the Obama administration will argue in favor of keeping the cross and allowing the land transfer.
The implications of the case could extend beyond the Mojave Cross. Individual gravestones are not at issue, but war memorials have long featured religious imagery.
"There are 5 million veterans that we represent ... would be quite shocked and horrified to know that those memorials and the symbols chosen by vets 75 years or 100 years ago would suddenly have to be torn down by a bulldozer," said Hiram Sasser, attorney for the Liberty Legal Institute.
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