From the Thomas More Law Center
Supreme Court Asked To Stay Lower Court Order To Remove the Mt. Soledad Cross
Thu, Jun 29, 2006
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, this morning, filed an emergency application in the U.S. Supreme Court asking Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy to stay a lower federal court decision that orders the City of San Diego to remove the Mt. Soledad Cross by August 1st or face fines of $5,000 a day thereafter. The City has indicated that unless the legal situation changes, it will comply with the lower court order to remove the cross and will begin plans to implement that order beginning in the first week of July. The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, filed the emergency application for stay on behalf of San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial, the organization that spearheaded the highly successful referendary petition drive that resulted in the City Council repealing its March 8, 2005 vote not to transfer the memorial property to the federal government.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Law Center commented, “The legislative actions of area Congressmen and the grass roots efforts of San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial have kept the cross atop Mt. Soledad. We are now, however, at a critical stage, and time is running out.”
The Law Center’s emergency application explained that this case presents a serious question regarding the place of religious symbols in the public life of our nation.
The Law Center argued, “Removing the memorial cross, which has been displayed continuously in its present location since 1954, would destroy the integrity of the Veterans Memorial, undermine the state court proceeding, and cause irreparable harm to Applicant, the citizens of San Diego, and the many family members, friends, and comrades of the nearly two thousand veterans who are honored by this memorial for their sacrificial service to this country. It would be a national tragedy to tear down the memorial cross, which is scheduled to occur on or before August 1, 2006, absent a stay.”
Charles LiMandri, the West Coast Regional Director for the Thomas More Law Center, commented, “The Mt. Soledad Cross and Memorial represents the sacrifices our veterans and their families have made and the gratitude that we, as a community and a nation, have for them. They fought hard for our freedoms. We will fight hard to preserve them.”
In addition to the emergency application to the Supreme Court, the Law Center is also involved in appeals to the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the California Court of Appeals, to save the cross.
On Monday evening U.S. Congressman Duncan Hunter introduced House Bill 5683, which mandates the federal government take over the memorial and transfer it to the Defense department. Representative Darrell Issa and newly elected Representative Brian Bilbray are co-sponsors of that legislation. However, it will be a difficult undertaking to move the bill through both the House of Representatives and the Senate for signature of the President before the August 1st deadline.
In addition to the numerous legal steps the Law Center is taking to prevent removal of the memorial cross by August 1st, the Law Center is also asking all Americans to join in the effort to urge President Bush to immediately use the federal powers of eminent domain to take the land on which the cross and memorial sit by signing a petition to the President contained on its website at: www.thomasmore.org.
Explained Thompson, “Our legal team is pursuing every possible legal option to save the Mt. Soledad Cross, including an appeal to President Bush and Congress to take the land under the federal powers of eminent domain. Our veterans deserve it.”
I hope SCOTUS gets this right or we'll be ripping down every Cross across the country. That cross does not establish a national religion AND it is for a particular purpose....honoring our soldiers.
Pretty soon, we'll be asking our priests to remove their collars.
Not for nothing, but atheism appears to be nothing but a total disregard for the "ideas" of others.
I think it was John Adams who said: IMOW....That's their problem!!