Cross case questions government’s relationship with religious symbol
By Laura Misjak
http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/18825

(AXcess News) Washington -  The eight-year battle over the constitutionality of a 5-foot-tall, white, metal cross in the middle of a California desert reached the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The case, Salazar v. Buono, asks whether the cross that honors World War I veterans violates the First Amendment’s establishment clause because it was erected on federal land. While the case made its way through lower federal courts, Congress traded the plot of land under the cross to a local VFW chapter, meaning the cross now stands on private property.

Wednesday’s arguments gave no clear indication which way the court would rule.

The justices probed whether the land transfer violated a district court’s injunction that the cross violates the First Amendment.

Justice Antonin Scalia appeared to believe the transfer was valid.

“I will stipulate that the government was trying to arrange it so that the cross could remain there,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it was … evading the injunction.”

Justice Stephen Breyer took the opposite stance.

“I read the injunction. The injunction says the government is enjoined from permitting the display of the Latin cross, period,” Breyer said. “Once this law takes effect and you follow it, you are violating that injunction. You don’t need nine proceedings to see that. You are violating it.”

Solicitor General Elena Kagan said she believes the government obeyed the injunction by covering the cross once the ruling said it couldn’t be shown.

Kagan spent a good chunk of her time discussing whether Frank Buono, a Catholic and a retired National Park Service employee, has standing to challenge the cross.

Her arguments were shot down quickly by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The two said the question of standing was settled once the lower courts ruled. Roberts said the government should have brought the standing question to the court earlier.

“It would have been really an irresponsible action on our part to ask this court to address the standing issue after the first court of appeals judgment where … we knew that we were going to relitigate the question of the validity of the transfer,” Kagan said.

Peter Eliasberg, the California-based attorney representing Buono, argued that the government was violating the injunction by trading the land where the cross sits to the VFW, rather than opening the space up for sale to the highest bidder.

With the VFW trade, the cross will more than likely remain, he said.

Justices grilled him about what would happen to sites like Arlington National Cemetery if they rule that crosses on federal land are unconstitutional.

Eliasberg, whose father and grandfather are Jewish war veterans, said because the cemetery offers 39 different religious emblems for grave markers, all are constitutional.

The case began in 2001 when Buono filed a lawsuit challenging the cross, which was erected in 1934 on federally owned land in the Mojave National Preserve. He sued after a request to have another religious symbol placed in the preserve was denied.

In 2002, a district court ruled that the cross violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. An appeals court agreed with the district court, and since then the cross has been covered by a wooden box.

Groups that filed friend-of-the-court briefs on either side of the case spoke outside the court both before and after the arguments. Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, a Christian outreach group, supports leaving the cross in place.

The Rev. Rob Schenk, president of the group, the Rev. Pat Mahoney, of the Christian Defense League, and Father Jim Heyd, of the Respect Life office in Chicago, brought a replica of the famous cross to the Supreme Court steps and held a prayer service.

“If a memorial bears a religious symbol, then it should be allowed to stand because religious symbols are a part of our heritage,” Schenk said.

Eliasberg said after the arguments that, despite the cross’s location in the “middle of nowhere,” as Roberts pointed out, the significance of its presence on federal land is what matters.

“In reality, about 100,000 people a year see this cross,” he said. “The government has the same obligations in a small town, national preserve or big city. … It’s clear that the government is embracing this symbol.”

Purple Heart National Commander Jim Sims said the cross isn’t merely a religious symbol for the veterans of World War I.

“It’s for the veterans who fought, and they deserve it,” Sims said. “There’s no religion in the foxhole.” 

Source: Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is taking on a long-running legal fight today over an 8-foot cross that stands as a World War I memorial in the vast Mojave National Preserve in California…

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Recent eyewitness to desert war memorial says federal courts making mountain out of molehill

Rev. Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), who recently visited the controversial Mojave Desert war memorial that’s constitutionality will be considered by the US Supreme Court this Wednesday, Oct 7, will hold a news conference with attorneys and other religious leaders Tuesday, Oct 6, at 11:00 AM.

Rev. Schenck’s organization, Faith and Action, filed a brief in the impending case Salazar vs. Buono, arguing the simple cross along a lonely stretch of desert road comports with the Constitution and reflects long-held American traditions

A federal district court and appeals court ruled against the cross made of common pipes and ordered it covered with a plywood box.

After driving into the desert to see the cross for himself, Rev. Schenck said, “This small, unimposing, humble, almost makeshift tribute to America’s fallen heroes has stood quietly in the desert for 75 years. Because of the complaint of one person, the federal courts have wasted thousands of tax dollars and critical man-hours making a mountain out of a molehill.”

Wednesday’s news conference will take place in front of another contested monument in the garden of the ministry center operated by Faith and Action. Schenck fought a legal battle with the District of Columbia that claimed the 3-foot sculpture of the Ten Commandments violated the so-called “separation of church and state.” Schenck and his group won that contest when the DC Legal Department conceded he had a right under the First Amendment to display the timeless words.

Schenck will also participate in a prayer service in front of the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning just before he goes inside to take his reserved seat for the arguments.

Details:

News Conference on Mojave Desert War Memorial Cross Supreme Court Case (Salazar vs. Buono)

Tuesday, October 6, 11:00 Am

Front garden of Faith and Action Ministry House, 109 2nd St, NE, Washington, DC 20002

Participating: President of National Clergy Council and Faith and Action Rev. Rob Schenck (Amici), Constitutional attorney and author of case brief, Bernard Reese, National Director of Christian Defense Coalition Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney and other religious liberty advocates

Prayer service for Supreme Court justices

Wednesday, October 7, 9:00 AM

Sidewalk in front of West Steps of the US Supreme Court

Participating, National Clergy Council president Rev. Rob Schenck, National Director of Christian Defense Coalition Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney and other religious leaders and First Amendment advocates

For more information or interviews contact Peggy Nienaber of Faith and Action at 202-546-8329, ext 104, peggy@faithandaction.org or mobile 202-236-0953.

Faith and Action president Rev. Rob Schenck has completed a six-day Southern California speaking tour that included a meeting with long-time supporter and musical icon Pat Boone, a trip deep into the Mojave Desert to view a controversial war memorial and even a Yom Kippur Orthodox Jewish service where he was honored to hold a sacred scroll of Scripture as prayers were chanted.

Rob Spoke about Christians and government to several thousand at three large churches, Calvary Chapel Chino Valley, Calvary Chapel South Bay and Hosanna Christian Fellowship of Bellflower with Pastors David Rosales, Steve Mays and Gary Ansdell, respectively.

“These churches are some of the largest and most dynamic in the country,” said Rob. “They are vibrant, prayerful, highly evangelistic and teaching oriented, so they produce mature, responsible Christians. I’m grateful to God for the warm welcome and sometimes overwhelming response to our mission and message. I pray these will be long-term partnerships in reaching the soul of our American culture.”

Rob began his visit in the Los Angeles area with an afternoon spent at singer Pat Boone’s West Hollywood office. Pat’s been a long-time friend and supporter of Paul and Rob Schenck, dating back to the very launch of their ministry in 1983. Since then, Pat has supported Paul and Rob in all their work, including Faith and Action.

“Pat is a precious brother in Christ and exhibits an extraordinary humility for the success he’s enjoyed in so many fields, beginning with his musical fame. Pat is a part of American pop culture and defines more than one era, yet it hasn’t at all gone to his head. He cares deeply about people and about our country and its spiritual and moral well-being. He’s recently released a first-of-its-kind compilation of patriotic songs we’ll soon make available to our Faith and Action family. I always enjoy my time with him.”

Pat Boone and Rob Schenck (L-R) in Beverly Hills, CA

Rob was also driven out to the expansive Mojave Desert Preserve, a nearly eight-hour round trip, to view a simple cross erected in 1934 by veterans of World War I who years previous had recovered at medical installations there. The cross, which is only slightly taller than an average man, is made of ordinary pipe. It is situated along a nearly abandoned road and is so unobtrusive that it is easily missed by the rare passer-by.

“I was combing the landscape looking carefully for the cross,” said Rob. “It was so insignificant I missed it, but my driver said, ‘I saw a small box up in the air back there. Could that be it?” We turned around and it was the cross covered by a plywood box under federal court order.

“It is absurd that the federal courts have spent thousands of tax-payer dollars focusing on getting rid of this unremarkable, humble tribute by our men and women in uniform who simply wanted to honor their fallen fellows. It’s really shameful.”

The Cross will be at the center of a Supreme Court case on Wednesday, October 7. Rob Schenck will be present in the courtroom to monitor oral arguments and study the reactions of the Supreme Court justices. Another long-time Faith and Action supporter and constitutional attorney, Bernie Reese of Rockford, IL, authored a special brief submitted to the High Court in defense of the Cross’s continued existence.

“I wanted to see the Cross for myself because I need to speak first-hand about it,” said Rob, who will this week do a number of national media interviews about the case. “I was really underwhelmed by it. There are certainly much grander displays on public property that incorporate religious symbols, including on the Supreme Court building itself. The ACLU is literally making a mountain out of molehill.”

Watch for Twitter, MySpace and Facebook coverage of the Mojave Desert Cross Case. If you haven’t signed our petition to support the cross, and all such war memorials, do so now, then pass it along to the your family, friends and fellow church members.