U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday signaled a willingness to let a 40-foot...
WASHINGTON - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday signaled a willingness to let a 40-foot-tall cross-shaped war memorial stay on public land in Maryland despite a legal challenge that called it an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.
Justice Stephen Breyer, one of the court’s four liberals, suggested a compromise ruling allowing the cross to remain based in part on the fact it was built in 1925 while making it clear that newly built religious symbols would be treated differently.On one hand “we’re not going to have people trying to tear down historical monuments,” Breyer said. But on the other, “we are a different country now” that is more pluralistic, he added.
Fred Edwords and two other plaintiffs filed a 2014 lawsuit challenging the cross as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from establishing an official religion and bars governmental actions favoring one religion over another. “So why in a case like that can we not say essentially the religious content has been stripped of this monument?” Kagan asked.
Edwords, who is retired, is a long-time member and previous employee of the American Humanist Association, which advocates for the separation of church and state.
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