Mount Soledad Cross proponents win legal victory
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Mount Soledad Cross proponents win legal victory
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By: North County Times wire services -
North County Times
February 22, 2007
SAN DIEGO - Those seeking to preserve the Mount Soledad cross in La Jolla savored a legal victory today as the state Supreme Court announced it will not hear an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the voter- approved transfer of the La Jolla memorial to the federal government.
"We're extremely pleased that the California Supreme Court has decided to reject this case, which effectively brings an end to state litigation to remove the Mount Soledad cross memorial," said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, in a statement released today.
"This represents the latest in a series of legal victories to keep the cross in place and we're confident that the final legal challenge -- now in federal court --will ultimately fail as well," he said. "The cross memorial is an important symbol honoring veterans of our military. We believe this memorial will survive the final round of legal challenges and remain in place. We will continue our legal work to that end."
James McElroy, the attorney for atheist Philip Paulson, who brought the original lawsuit in 1989, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Paulson, a Vietnam veteran, sued the city to try to force the removal of the cross, contending that having a Christian symbol on public land represented unconstitutional preference for a religion.
In 1991, U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson Jr. ruled in Paulson's favor. A series of appeals followed, but the decision was upheld.
In May, Thompson gave the city 90 days to remove the cross or face a $5,000 per day fine. That ruling was put on hold by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and is now before the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Paulson died Oct. 25 of liver cancer but added a friend, Steven Trunk, to the lawsuit so it could continue.
San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition A in 2005, which allowed the city to transfer the land the cross sits on to the National Park Service to be designated a national war memorial.
Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett later ruled that the transfer was invalid and unenforceable, but that decision was overturned in November by a 4th District Court of Appeal panel.
The ACLJ, a Washington, D.C.-based legal group, asked the state Supreme Court earlier this month to deny a review of the appeals court decision.
The California Supreme Court agreed not to hear the case yesterday.
The only litigation remaining involves a federal lawsuit challenging legislation signed into law by President Bush last August which transferred control of the memorial to the federal government, according to the ACLJ. CNS-02-22-2007 12:32
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