Irish Brigade Memorial, Gettysburg
Posted on 06/21/2006 5:33:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO
A three-judge federal panel on Wednesday rejected a last-ditch appeal by the city of San Diego to keep a giant cross standing on city property after a 17-year legal tussle.
The city is under federal court order to move the 29-foot-tall cross from a La Jolla hilltop before Aug. 2 or face $5,000 daily fines. The failed appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was intended to stay that order and allow the cross to remain standing until appeals currently pending in state courts can be heard.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre said that Wednesday's ruling, issued without comment, "would force us to carry out that order."
The fight over the 52-year-old cross began with a lawsuit filed in 1989 by an atheist living in San Diego. U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. ruled in May that removal of the cross was "long overdue" and invoked his own 1991 opinion ordering the cross taken down to stop the city from displaying an unconstitutional preference for one religion over another.
Aguirre, however, said he was scheduled to meet with Mayor Jerry Sanders on Thursday to discuss appealing the case directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. He said that he believes the placement of the cross is unconstitutional, but argued that the city had a duty to exhaust its legal options in order to respect the will of voters who approved a 2005 ballot measure designed to preserve it.
"Voters passed the initiative so our obligation now is to try and defend it," Aguirre said.
The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal on behalf of the cross in 2003 after the city tried to sell the property to a private buyer. Federal courts repeatedly blocked the sale, saying the transactions were designed to favor a buyer who would leave the cross in place.
The cross was dedicated in 1954 as a memorial to veterans of the Korean War, and a private association maintains a concentric granite-and-brick veterans' memorial on the land surrounding the cross.
Sanders has argued that the cross is an integral part of the war memorial and deserves the same exemption to government-maintained religious symbols granted to other war monuments such as Arlington National Cemetery.
In recent weeks Sanders has asked President Bush to intervene in the matter, joining a request by U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, chair of the House Armed Services Committee.
On Wednesday, Sanders issued a statement saying he was disappointed by the appeals court decision, but he reiterated his commitment to obeying the court order and sparing his cash-strapped city from paying any fines.
"I have no intention of violating Judge Thompson's order if a resolution cannot be reached by Aug. 1," Sanders said.
It's time to defy the 9th Circus.
I don't understand...the people voted..it was a landslide. Bush needs to come in and do the sane thing.
I don't understand...the people voted..it was a landslide. Bush needs to come in and do the sane thing.
Of course they did. I am not surprised.
Hopefully, it will go the Supreme Court, although, according to the article, the attorney that's supposed to be defending it, thinks the cross is unconstitutional. Is he really able to defend the constitutionality of this cross fully if he admittedly doesn't even believe what he's saying?
What can he do? He will not violate a court order, nor should he.
Atheism trumps respect for memorials to those who served and died for their country or the local coimmunity's voice, it appears.
Judge Thompson was a 1970 appointee by Nixon, btw. Time he is put out to pasture, imo..
"Bush needs to come in and do the sane thing."
Wasn't this (Press Secretary) Tony Snow's "cross to bear?" His Grandpa is buried there, and I remember that he'd talk about this case whenever he filled in for Rush.
Bet he's got President Bush's ear on this one. ;)
Gabz? If this isn't a Nanny State Ping, I don't know what is.
Why can't he and why shouldn't he?
Looks like the City should hold a cross burning and invite the judge to bring some marshmallows. Oh, and use the ocasion to announce the name of the city is being changed from San Diego to "Diego".
What can he do?
We have crosses all over federally owned military cemeteries all over the country. I wonder if he'd be powerless to stop the ACLU from removing those as well.
The court has made its decision. Now let's see the court enforce it. --- Andrew Jackson
The American Center for Law and Justice has joined in the fray, and I have little doubt but that they are going to take this all the way to SCOTUS.
Irish Brigade Memorial, Gettysburg
A stunning memorial!!
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