Court Rules Cross Must Come Down

By Heather L. Weaver, ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief

Yesterday, a district court ruled that the federal government may no longer display a 43-foot Latin cross on Mt. Soledad in San Diego, California. The Court's order, which prohibits the government from "displaying or continuing to allow the display of the current cross on federal land as part of the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial," follows a 2011 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holding that the display violates the fundamental principles underlying the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The ACLU and the ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties brought this case on behalf of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, the oldest veterans' organization in the country, and other plaintiffs because we believe that government war memorials should honor veterans of all faiths, as well as those of no faith. The Constitution requires no less, and a gigantic, 43-foot Latin cross doesn't come close. As the Court of Appeals explained, "The use of such a distinctively Christian symbol to honor all veterans sends a strong message of endorsement and exclusion. It suggests that the government is so connected to a particular religion that it treats that religion's symbolism as its own, as universal. To many non-Christian veterans, this claim of universality is alienating."