U.S. Gov't Gets Giant Cross in San Diego
By ERICA WERNER
The Associated Press
Monday, August 14, 2006; 9:22 PM
WASHINGTON -- A giant cross in San Diego that's been contested for 17
years by an atheist became the property of the federal government
Monday with President Bush's signature.
Supporters hope the legislation transferring the 29-foot cross and war
memorial it's a part of to the federal government will protect it for
good. A series of court decisions have deemed the cross
unconstitutional because it stands on public property.
"Just because something may have a religious connotation doesn't mean
you destroy it and tear it down," said Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Calif.,
after an Oval Office signing ceremony attended by other cross
supporters and Republican House members from San Diego who sponsored
the bill.
"It's a great victory for our veterans," said House Armed Services
Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.
But the legal fight that began in 1989 when atheist Philip Paulson
sued San Diego over the cross is not played out yet.
Paulson's attorney, Jim McElroy, said he filed papers in federal court
in San Diego last week to void the transfer and declare it
unconstitutional.
"I don't think anybody really thinks the cross is going to remain on
Mt. Soledad. It's been 17 years of litigation, and every court, every
judge who's ever looked at it has ruled it's unconstitutional,"
McElroy said.
The bill signing "smacks of election-year politics," he said.
Paulson, a Vietnam War veteran, contends that the cross, dedicated in
1954 in honor of Korean War veterans, excludes veterans who are not
Christian.
State and federal judges have ordered the cross removed, saying it
represents an unconstitutional endorsement of one religion. In July,
the U.S. Supreme Court blocked an order that the city take it down by
Aug. 1, giving lower courts time to hear appeals.
City officials have argued that the cross is part of a secular war
memorial, and the cross has been embraced by San Diego residents who
last year overwhelmingly approved a measure to preserve it by donating
it to the federal government. A judge declared the measure
unconstitutional.
The legislation authorizing the transfer passed the House and Senate
in recent weeks after California's two senators, Democrats Dianne
Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, agreed to let it go through.
Federal ownership could help insulate the cross from additional legal
challenges, because under federal law, which is more flexible than
California law, religious displays may stand on public property if
they have a secular meaning.
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