WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court today granted an emergency stay of a district court order to remove a 52-year-old cross atop San Diego’s Mount Soledad National War Memorial. Alliance Defense Fund attorneys argued on behalf of The American Legion Department of California in a friend-of-the-court brief that the cross be allowed to stand while legal appeals move forward.
“Tributes to America’s veterans, like the cross on Mount Soledad, should continue to stand with honor, not be disgracefully torn down,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Veterans, along with the overwhelming number of San Diegans who expressed their opinions at the polls, have supported the Mount Soledad cross for many, many years. We are pleased that the cross will stand, and we will continue to oppose the ongoing legal threats against it.”
ADF attorneys, on behalf of The American Legion Department of California, filed their friend-of-the-court brief Friday with the Supreme Court, arguing in favor of the stay (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3790). Justice Anthony Kennedy granted the stay today on behalf of the court.
The battle to save the cross began in 1989, after a single atheist backed by the American Civil Liberties Union sued the city of San Diego in an effort to remove it. On May 3, a federal district judge ordered the city of San Diego to remove the cross within 90 days or face a fine of $5,000 per day for every day beyond the deadline that the cross still stands.
A copy of the brief filed by attorneys with ADF and Liberty Legal Institute on behalf of The American Legion Department of California in
San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial v. Paulson can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/SoledadBrief.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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