Over the past several years, the ACLU has specifically targeted crosses at war memorials, such as the Mt. Soledad cross in San Diego and the Sunrise Rock cross in the Mojave Desert. In addition, the American Atheists filed a lawsuit to force removal of memorial crosses placed by the Utah Highway Patrol Association in honor of fallen highway patrol officers. The ACLU also threatened legal action against a proposed cross to honor Hurricane Katrina victims that was to be placed on private land. The ACLU and its allies’ war on the cross has also extended to city and county seals in Los Angeles, California; Redlands, California; and Tijeras, New Mexico, to name just a few.
The ACLU has repeatedly shown its contempt for religious faith and the right of individuals to honor the sacrifice made by so many for our precious freedoms. Here are just a few examples:
- "It still doesn’t mean a d—n thing. Voters should have never voted [to save the Mt. Soledad cross] … It’s a waste of taxpayer money." – ACLU attorney James McElroy after San Diego voters passed by a 3-1 margin a ballot initiative transferring the Mt. Soledad cross to federal land to protect it from the ACLU’s legal attacks.
- "If they [individuals who offer public invocations] continue to break the law, I want to say, the handcuffs are gonna come." – Michael Deanhardt, ACLU of South Carolina board member
- "Their [individuals who pray publicly] refusal to comply...should and must result in their removal from society." – Joe Cook, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana
The ACLU’s attacks on war memorials and other symbols of faith have proven to be quite lucrative for the organization through its exploitation of the 1976 Civil Attorneys’ Fee Awards Act. The ACLU has convinced judges to award attorneys’ fees for its suits against war memorials, crosses, Ten Commandments displays, and the Pledge of Allegiance.
This act, which was meant to help plaintiffs in civil rights cases, should not be applied to "Establishment Clause" challenges based upon the so-called "separation of church and state." Plaintiffs in these "Establishment Clause" cases do not suffer a traditional type of harm associated with the First Amendment. Their sole claim to "harm" is that they are offended by having to look at a cross or monument, or by hearing the words "Under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance. It is this claim of being "offended" that they use as the basis of their claims for attorneys' fees. Unfortunately, many municipalities quickly fold just under the threat of an ACLU lawsuit – in fear of the strain it will put on the taxpayers.
Some examples of the attorneys’ fee awards the ACLU has received over the years are...
- $50,000 from the city of San Diego in the Mt. Soledad war memorial case.
- $63,000 in the Mohave Desert cross case.
- $108,000 from the city of Portland, Oregon, for allowing a recruiting presentation by the Boy Scouts during school hours.
- $121,500 from the state of Kentucky over a Ten Commandments display at the state capitol.
- $950,000 from the city of San Diego for allowing the Boy Scouts to lease land in Balboa Park.
This abuse of the law by the ACLU to enrich its own coffers is why the national American Legion has thrown its support behind the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA). PERA would close the “loophole” that has been such a huge source of largesse for the ACLU in cases where the Plaintiff’s only harm is being offended over a display of a religious symbol.
California State Senator Jim Battin said, "The very threat of imposition of attorney fees or damages in such cases has a coercive and chilling effect on debate, deliberation, and decision-making by public officials when faced with the duty to decide what symbols of our American history or heritage may or may not be displayed in the public sphere without offending somebody, if those symbols, no matter how historical, traditional, or time honored, contain a religious symbol."
The attack by the ACLU on war memorials is not only an attack on those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, but an attack on the very freedoms that veterans fought and died to preserve.