Cross Posted With Stop The ACLU
Court Bans Mojave Cross on Private Land In Public Park
What a tangled up sticky legal mess this one is.
In 2004, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a cross on a prominent rock on public land was unconstitutional, prompting Congress to pass a law allowing a trade so its immediate area would become private land.
People have been putting crosses in the spot since the 1930s, most recently with one man drilling a metal cross into the rock a decade ago without permission. In 1999, a man requested and was denied permission to build a Buddhist shrine there, setting the stage for a tangled legal fight.
“A grave constitutional injury already exists,” Judge Margaret McKeown wrote for a three-judge panel that upheld a lower court ruling. “The permitting display of the Sunrise Rock cross in the Preserve is an impermissible governmental endorsement of religion.
“The government’s long-standing efforts to preserve and maintain the cross atop Sunrise Rock lead us to the undeniable conclusion that the government’s purpose in this case is to evade the injunction and keep the cross in place,” the judge said. “Carving out a tiny parcel of property in the midst of this vast Preserve – like a donut hole with the cross atop it – will do nothing to minimize the impermissible governmental endorsement.”
9th Circus once again. The ACLU did not immediately return a call for comment:
The decision today is the latest in the lengthy case. The American Civil Liberties Union originally filed a lawsuit in 2001 on behalf of a man who said its location on federal land violated the U.S. Constitution.
The original cross was erected in 1934 by a prospector to honor World War I veterans. The latest version was installed in the mid-1990s. President Bill Clinton authorized the Mojave National Preserve in 1996, including the land where the cross sits.
The cross has been covered, first by a tarp and now by a box, as the case makes its way through the courts, Wanda Sandoz said.
A while back, a friend of mine took a trip to the Mojave Desert where this cross is. Below is a little film of his experience.
So here is the cross, rendered unable to offend under plywood. Except that the placing it under plywood offends me. Quite a bit.
Here is a good history synopsis of the case written by former ACLU lawyer, Rees Lloyd.
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