Post by ReformedLiberal on May 3, 2006 16:09:15 GMT -8
The city of San Diego must remove the cross from atop Mount Soledad within 90 days or face a $5,000-per-day fine, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. said it was time to put some teeth into a 1991 injunction, in which he ruled that having the cross on city-owned land violated the state constitution.
"He said, 'I mean it this time,"' plaintiff's attorney James McElroy said of the judge's order to take down the 29-foot cross.
The city must now decide its next move, but McElroy said he is hopeful that the process can begin for taking down the cross.
"I don't think the taxpayers have the stomach for it," the attorney said.
McElroy said it was time to end the 17-year legal battle and "strike a blow for religious tolerance."
In a statement, Mayor Jerry Sanders strongly recommends that the City Council and City Attorney Michael Aguirre aggressively pursue all judicial remedies in order to save the cross, on the Mount Soledad War Memorial, including seeking a stay from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sanders said he has always viewed the cross as an integral part of the war memorial.
The Mount Soledad cross was built in 1954 as a memorial to veterans of the Korean War. It was used as a backdrop for sunrise services until atheist Philip Paulson filed a lawsuit in 1989.
Judges twice ruled that the sale of the land surrounding the memorial to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, which maintains the site, was unconstitutional.
A state judge ruled last October that the city's proposed transfer of the cross to the federal government was also unconstitutional.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett ruled that Proposition A -- which allowed the city to transfer the 20-ton cross and surrounding walls and plaques to the National Park Service so it could be designated a national war memorial -- was invalid and unenforceable.
In a special election on July 26, 2005, 75 percent of San Diegans who cast ballots voted for Proposition A.
Cowett ruled, however, that the proposed transfer would violate the state and federal constitution by giving preferential treatment to one religion over another.
In November 2004, a ballot measure failed that would have authorized a new sale of the cross and the land around it.
At that time, two veterans groups supported moving the cross to a another site to end the litigation.
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I don't have much hope for a reprieve from the 9th circus court. However, we have been able to defy liberal judges for 17 years, so maybe there is still hope. The cross as a symbol of rememberance of fallen soldiers is at least as old as this country. It is used to mark graves of even atheists in every national cemetary from Virginia to Coronado, CA. I don't support the cross on Mt. Soledad as a religious symbol, but as a war memorial. And I'm tired of the minority dictating to the majority.
U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. said it was time to put some teeth into a 1991 injunction, in which he ruled that having the cross on city-owned land violated the state constitution.
"He said, 'I mean it this time,"' plaintiff's attorney James McElroy said of the judge's order to take down the 29-foot cross.
The city must now decide its next move, but McElroy said he is hopeful that the process can begin for taking down the cross.
"I don't think the taxpayers have the stomach for it," the attorney said.
McElroy said it was time to end the 17-year legal battle and "strike a blow for religious tolerance."
In a statement, Mayor Jerry Sanders strongly recommends that the City Council and City Attorney Michael Aguirre aggressively pursue all judicial remedies in order to save the cross, on the Mount Soledad War Memorial, including seeking a stay from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Sanders said he has always viewed the cross as an integral part of the war memorial.
The Mount Soledad cross was built in 1954 as a memorial to veterans of the Korean War. It was used as a backdrop for sunrise services until atheist Philip Paulson filed a lawsuit in 1989.
Judges twice ruled that the sale of the land surrounding the memorial to the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, which maintains the site, was unconstitutional.
A state judge ruled last October that the city's proposed transfer of the cross to the federal government was also unconstitutional.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett ruled that Proposition A -- which allowed the city to transfer the 20-ton cross and surrounding walls and plaques to the National Park Service so it could be designated a national war memorial -- was invalid and unenforceable.
In a special election on July 26, 2005, 75 percent of San Diegans who cast ballots voted for Proposition A.
Cowett ruled, however, that the proposed transfer would violate the state and federal constitution by giving preferential treatment to one religion over another.
In November 2004, a ballot measure failed that would have authorized a new sale of the cross and the land around it.
At that time, two veterans groups supported moving the cross to a another site to end the litigation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't have much hope for a reprieve from the 9th circus court. However, we have been able to defy liberal judges for 17 years, so maybe there is still hope. The cross as a symbol of rememberance of fallen soldiers is at least as old as this country. It is used to mark graves of even atheists in every national cemetary from Virginia to Coronado, CA. I don't support the cross on Mt. Soledad as a religious symbol, but as a war memorial. And I'm tired of the minority dictating to the majority.
