Justice Department Defends Mount Soledad Memorial

President Obama’s Justice Department is reportedly appealing the case of the Mount Soledad Memorial to the US Supreme Court.  (A similar petition was filed by the Liberty Institute.) The 9th Circuit court of appeals previously ruled the 43-foot cross unconstitutional.

The government should not be required “to tear down a cross that has stood without incident for 58 years as a highly venerated memorial to the nation’s fallen service members,” Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. said in a new appeal to the high court.

The article notes the Supreme Court supported the display of the Mojave cross two years ago, which overturned another 9th Circuit ruling, and which the 9th Circuit “ignored” in this case.  Notably, the Mojave cross was stolen and still hasn’t been replaced, and a lawsuit has been filed to force the government to adhere to the SCOTUS ruling.

The Soledad case is now known as US v Trunk.