U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Case of Cross in National Park

The Supreme Court said today it would decide whether the government can maintain a cross in a national park to honor fallen soldiers in the latest test of church-state separation.

The cross case will give the court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts its first chance to weigh in on the 1st Amendment's ban on an "establishment of religion." In the last decade, the justices have been closely divided on whether religious displays, such as the Ten Commandments, can be kept on public property.

At issue now is an 8-foot-tall cross in the Mojave National Preserve in Southern California. It was first erected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1934 and has been maintained as a war memorial by the National Park Service.

The American Civil Liberties Union objected to the cross and filed a suit on behalf of Frank Bruno, a Catholic and former Park Service employee. The suit noted that the government had denied a request to have a Buddhist shrine erected near the cross.

Two years ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the ACLU and declared the cross an "impermissible governmental endorsement of religion."

Congress has intervened to try to save the cross by transferring a small parcel of land with the cross on it to a private group. However, the 9th Circuit judges were unswayed. This "would leave a little donut hole of land with a cross in the midst of a vast federal preserve," the appeals court said.

Bush administration lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court last fall and said the "seriously misguided decision" will require the government "to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 70 years as a memorial to fallen service members." The government also questioned whether Bruno should have standing to challenge the cross, since he lives in Oregon and suffers no obvious harm because of the Mojave cross.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the VFW, the American Legion and other veterans said the 9th Circuit's ruling, if allowed to stand, could trigger legal challenges to the display of crosses at Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere.

The court said today it had voted to hear the case, now relabeled Salazar vs. Bruno. Arguments will be held in October, and Obama administration lawyers will be in charge of defending the Interior Department and its right to maintain the cross.