SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit ruled today that a 17-year lawsuit seeking the removal of the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial cross is now moot. The court said a district court order requiring the removal of the cross must be vacated. The Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Legal Institute filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case Nov. 22 on behalf of The American Legion and The American Legion Department of California, asking the court to dismiss the suit.
“Memorials like the one at Mt. Soledad are a tribute to our nation’s veterans. At long last, this part of the crusade against a memorial beloved by them and their families is finally over,” said ADF Legal Counsel Tim Chandler. “Now that the cross is clearly under federal control, the 9th Circuit agreed that, with regard to this lawsuit, it was time to end the ACLU’s protracted legal attack on this symbol dedicated to our nation’s fallen heroes.”
ADF and LLI attorneys filed their friend-of-the-court brief shortly after President Bush signed the law that officially transferred ownership of the memorial property to the federal government (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3932).
The cross has been in existence since 1952. In 2005, 76 percent of San Diegans voted to preserve the Mount Soledad cross by transferring the memorial from city property to the ownership of the National Park Service, but that move was contested in court.
The opinion issued today by the 9th Circuit in
Paulson v. City of San Diego can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/PaulsonOpinion.pdf. A copy of the friend-of-the-court brief filed in November on behalf of The American Legion and The American Legion Department of California can be read at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/PaulsonAmicus.pdf.
In November, the California Court of Appeal reversed a trial court ruling that said the transfer of the memorial land to the federal government was illegal under the state constitution (
www.telladf.org/news/story.aspx?cid=3935).
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