The justices, both liberal and conservative, said the so-called Peace Cross should not be torn down or moved.
Justice Elena Kagan said the history of the era showed why the cross should be able to stand. She said the “rows and rows of crosses” near the battlefields of World War I made the cross the “preeminent symbol of how to memorialize” in America those who had died in Europe.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg noted that the United States may have been “overwhelmingly Christian” at its founding, but today it has a broad array of religious faiths. The justices spent most of Wednesday’s argument posing questions.
While it was apparent which side would win, it was not clear from the oral argument whether the justices would issue a broad ruling that upholds religious symbols on government property or a narrow decision that preserves the Peace Cross in its current location. Washington attorney Michael Carvin, representing the American Legion, said the court’s conservatives should go broad. Religious symbols are like “religious speech,” he said, and the courts should not limit religious displays, so long as the government is not “preaching conversion.” The legion helped build the cross.
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