States file brief urging appeals court to allow Maryland cross memorial News
States file brief urging appeals court to allow Maryland cross memorial

Twenty-five states, led by West Virginia, filed [press release] a friend of the court brief [text, PDF] on Monday to argue that the War World I monument in the shape of a white cross does not violate the constitution. At issue is the fact that the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland, is maintained by government funds, which the American Humanist Association (AHA) [advocacy website] and others argue violates the Establishment clause [text] of the First Amendment. In the brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the states argue that is not a violation of the constitution because there is a historical, not religious reason for war monuments to use religious symbols to honor fallen soldiers:

The local American Legion post built the veterans memorial in 1925 on a median along a then-new veterans memorial highway stretching from Washington, According to the American Legion, this land was originally private, and the memorial was completed with private funds.The memorial was taken for public ownership and maintenance only later when “increased traffic on the roads surrounding the Monument” made it necessary. Several other veterans monuments have since been added nearby. Like the World War I crosses at Arlington National Cemetery, Bladensburg’s veterans memorial uses religious imagery to “honor and respect those whose heroic acts, noble contributions, and patient striving help secure an honored place in history for this Nation and its people.”

The states further argued that a ruling for the appellants would create a dangerous precedent that would imperil veterans monuments all over the country and is urging the court to uphold the district court’s ruling.

Religious displays on public property pose a controversial First Amendment question. In December a judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland ruled that the display the cross-shaped war memorial does not violate [JURIST report] the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. In November a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas ruled that a nativity scene on Baxter County Courthouse grounds violates the First Amendment [JURIST report]. That case was also brought by the AHA. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that a six-foot-tall statue of Jesus may remain on US Forest Service land [JURIST report]. The Freedom From Religion Foundation [advocacy website] filed the suit claiming that the statue, located atop Whitefish Mountain in Montana, violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. In May the Ninth Circuit upheld [JURIST report] a Santa Monica, California, city ordinance prohibiting unattended exhibits, including Nativity scenes, in Palisades Park. In 2014 a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a Ten Commandments monument [JURIST report] placed outside of Bloomfield city hall.