Mojave Cross Case Settled, Cross will Stand

In April 2010, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that claimed a transfer of National Park Service land in the Mojave National Preserve — upon which stood a cross — was an end-run around the US Constitution.

In January 2011, the VFW sued the government for failing to abide by that decision and allowing the cross to stand.  In fact, while the case was ongoing the cross was stolen; when a replacement appeared, the government took it down.

Now it appears the case is done:

A federal judge has approved a land-swap to settle a lawsuit over a remote site in the Mojave National Preserve where war memorial crosses have been erected for decades.

The settlement announced Tuesday calls for the site at Sunrise Rock to be turned over to a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Barstow, California, in exchange for five acres of donated land.

By the end of the year they hope to have completed the transfer; the Park Service will restore the plaque, but the VFW will have to restore the cross that was stolen.  The Park Service made a point of saying

no cross can legally be displayed until the land exchange is complete.

That may be consistent with the settlement, but that is not consistent with the law.  To be fair, National Preserve Superintendent Stephanie R. Dubois isn’t a lawyer.

Also at FoxNews.