Last week, a federal appeals court denied a request to reconsider its ruling that a 40-foot-tall cross on a Maryland highway median violates the U.S. Constitution. Advocates of the 93-year-old war memorial located in Bladenbsurg, honoring a group of World War I soldiers, say they may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 8-6 to deny a request from the American Legion to hear the case again before the full court. The Associated Press reports, “Judge Paul Niemeyer, one of six judges who disagreed with the ruling, said he believes the full court should hear the case because the decision has far-reaching consequences and ‘needlessly puts at risk hundreds of monuments with similar symbols standing on public grounds across the country,’ including Arlington National Cemetery, where large crosses commemorate fallen soldiers.”
Last year, I wrote on this story, because in a 2-1 decision a federal court ruled that the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial — built in memory of the 49 men of Prince George’s County who died in World War I — was unconstitutional. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit determined the memorial violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution. Advocates believe the decision could set a precedent that might threaten the myriad public memorials nationwide that include references to God, including the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to name a few.
The memorial is located on the median of a busy intersection, and was deeded to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission several decades ago because of its location. Since the government still maintains the memorial, advocates of removing the memorial claim it violates the idea of the separation of church and state. The American Humanist Association “challenged the constitutionality of the cross, saying it endorses Christianity while ignoring non-Christian veterans.”
In a statement, Hiram Sasser, general counsel for First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based law firm representing the American Legion, said they will ask the Supreme Court to hear the case.
“We’re going to put every possible resource into preserving this memorial. We just feel like we owe it to the memory of those 49 soldiers, sailors and Marines who died fighting for this country,” Sasser said.
Many of our nation’s symbols, from money to memorials, invoke a Judeo-Christian faith, often due to our nation’s religious foundation. While separation of church and state is important, there is a fine line between ensuring that and erasing our nation’s religious history and figures in history who embraced religious faith. Dishonoring veterans by eradicating monuments that honor them and invoke the Christian faith is both an attempt to rewrite history and actively strip this country of our religious heritage.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington, D.C., who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator’s Young Journalist Award.
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