Representatives of major veterans' groups on Thursday called on the Supreme Court to allow the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial to stand within the Mojave Desert Preserve in California, and to reject Establishment Clause arguments against it.
The fate of the memorial, a seven-foot-tall cross first built in 1934, will be decided by the high court in Salazar v. Buono, set for argument in the fall. A challenge to the cross, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, has been successful thus far, with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruling twice that the cross violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. In the second ruling, the court said that intervening congressional action transferring the land surrounding the cross to a private party did not cure the constitutional problem. The cross is still standing but is covered by a plywood box pending the outcome of the case.
"It's not about a single cross in an obscure place. It's much bigger than that," said Jim Sims of the Military Order of the Purple Hearts. Sims said a ruling upholding the 9th Circuit would impact similar veterans' memorials around the world, including the Canadian Cross overlooking the graves of some World War I veterans at Arlington National Cemetery. Mark Seavey of the American Legion also said he was "gravely concerned" about the fate of other veterans memorials if the Mojave cross is ordered torn down.
Kelly Shackleford of the Liberty Legal Institute, who wrote a brief in the case on behalf of the veterans' groups, said those organizations "don't always do things together," making their solidarity on this issue more significant. Losing the case would cause "incredible havoc around the country and incredible pain." While acknowledging that the cross is a "religious symbol," Shackleford said that at the Mojave memorial and many other veterans' memorials, the cross has come to have more secular significance as a commemoration of all veterans -- especially from World War I -- regardless of religion. The institute has launched a "Don't Tear Me Down" web site with details about the case.
Also at the press conference in D.C. in Thursday were Henry and Wanda Sandoz, who have maintained and rebuilt the Mojave cross since 1984. They donated some of their own land in the preserve to enable the land swap that Congress enacted in 2003 to protect the memorial. Sandoz said he has nurtured the memorial "to give back" to veterans for the sacrifices they have made. When, at one point during the litigation, the Park Service told him to take down the cross, Sandoz said his reply was "not no, but hell no."
Groups opposing the memorial say it is a clear violation of the Establishment Clause, and the fact that the land on which it stands is now privately owned makes no difference. "The cross is in the middle of a national park, and anyone looking at it would assume it was erected by the government," said Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who said the land transfer was "an obvious ploy" to circumvent the Constitution.
Footnote: The representatives of the veterans' groups were asked at the press conference whether they'd like to see President Barack Obama appoint a veteran to the Supreme Court -- a type of diversity that has not been discussed much since Justice David Souter announced his retirement plans. The question was diplomatically answered, with Joe Davis of the Veterans of Foreign Wars stating with a smile, "You don't have to be a veteran to love a veteran."
ACLU is as bad, or worse, than any terrorist organization that threatens this nation. How long can this country survive the onslaught of all the diversity groups who are not happy with something that may be different than their beliefs? What happened to people from all over the world moving here with the idea of becoming Americans?
Posted by: D. Smith | May 22, 2009 at 05:59 PM