Published: 02-23-09
Veterans Hope Court Saves War Memorial
WASHINGTON D.C. The Supreme Court announced today that it will hear the case regarding the
Mojave Desert Cross a memorial to World War I veterans that has been declared unconstitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
In November of 2008 Liberty Legal Institute filed an amicus brief asking for certiorari on behalf of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) The American Legion the Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH) Veterans of Foreign Wars Department of California and American Ex-Prisoners of War (AXPOW).
The VFW erected the memorial and originally owned the land on which the memorial sits and had donated it to the government in 1934. The ACLU sued for removal of the veterans memorial on the grounds that it is unconstitutional and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and ordered the memorial and cross dismantled.
After that decision the VFW gave 5 acres of land in exchange for the retrieval of their monument. The Ninth Circuit ruled that was unconstitutional and ordered the monument and cross dismantled instead. The cross is currently covered by a plywood box awaiting The Supreme Courts decision.
It is bad enough to say that the veterans memorial is unconstitutional but it is outrageous to say that the government cannot give the monument back to the people who spilled their blood and put it there in the first place" said Kelly Shackelford chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute and attorney for the veterans groups.
The fate of the Mojave Desert Cross is just one of the trends of hostility toward veterans memorials. For more information on trends visit our website at
www.libertylegal.org.
