Free Republic

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. "We're urging the court to permit a private organization to obtain and operate the war memorial – a remedy that would remove any constitutional questions and protect this longstanding tribute to our men and women in uniform," Sekulow said in a statement. The legal fight over the Mount Soledad cross began in 1989 when atheist Philip Paulson sued the city of San Diego.

The federal judge who ordered the removal of the Mount Soledad cross from city parkland yesterday rejected a bid by a private group to join the litigation, saying its efforts to save the cross come “much too late.” The decision means that San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial cannot appeal the judge's decision ordering the city to remove the 29-foot concrete cross by Aug. 1 or pay $5,000 daily fines. The group was behind Proposition A, a public vote last summer to donate the cross to the federal government for a national park. It says it wants...

federal judge on Wednesday ordered the removal of the Mount Soledad cross from property owned by the city of San Diego within 90 days or he will fine the city $5,000 a day. “It is now time, and perhaps long overdue, for this court to enforce its initial permanent injunction forbidding the presence of the Mount Soledad cross on city property,” said U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson. Thompson first found the presence of the cross on city property unconstitutional in 1991 because it violated the separation of church and state. Since then, his order, and the issue of the cross,...

Judge halts Mount Soledad cross transfer          By Jennifer Vigil and Karen Kucher UNION-TRIBUNE 12:41 p.m. September 2, 2005 JAMES BAIRD / Union-Tribune As votes were counted in the July 26 special election, the setting sun illuminated the cross on Mount Soledad. SAN DIEGO – A Superior Court judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order barring the city from transferring the Mount Soledad cross to the federal government under the deal voters overwhelmingly approved in San Diego's July special election. Judge Patricia Yim Cowett issued a tentative 34-page ruling in the case, which questioned the constitutionality of Proposition...

8:10 p.m. March 8, 2005 SAN DIEGO – The San Diego City Council on Tuesday rejected a plan to transfer the property atop Mount Soledad, including its 43-foot-tall cross, to the federal government to be designated a national veterans memorial. The panel voted 5-3 not to transfer the property to the National Parks Service, a last-ditch effort proposed by two San Diego congressmen to stop the removal of the cross from Mount Soledad. Advertisement The cross was ordered moved after federal judges twice declared the sale of the city land to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association unconstitutional because it favored...

This week's "Tyranny of the Few" Award: "Jihad Jesus Republicans need to understand that the separation of church and state has kept this country from getting into religious wars. ... If God was powerful, there would not be a need for the government to go in and force a religious agenda on nonbelieving citizens." --Philip Paulson, atheism activist who, together with the ACLU, sued for 15 years to cut down the Mount Soledad War Memorial Cross in San Diego