Supreme Court agrees to hear religious dispute over Maryland World War I memorial

Source: Washington Examiner | November 2, 2018 | Melissa Quinn

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a legal dispute over the constitutionality of a 40-foot cross honoring those killed in World War I located on state-owned land in Maryland, the court announced Friday.

The lawsuit centers around the memorial, a Latin cross atop a pedestal built 93 years ago and designed to honor local men killed in World War I. The cross, located in Prince George’s County, Md., was built by the American Legion and a committee of mothers who lost their sons, and sits on land owned by the state since 1961.

A federal appeals court ruled the memorial was unconstitutional.

According to court filings, the memorial was designed in the shape of a Latin cross to “mirror the cross-shaped grave markers under which their sons and comrades were buried in American overseas cemeteries.”

But in 2012, the American Humanist Association filed a complaint against the memorial, saying it violated the First Amendment because it was on public land.

In a 2015 ruling, a federal district court ruled in favor of the American Legion and found the memorial to be constitutional.

But the lower court’s decision was reversed by a divided three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the “Latin Cross is the ‘preeminent symbol of Christianity.’”

The court, it continued, “simply cannot ignore the fact that for thousands of years the Latin cross has represented Christianity.”

The full 4th Circuit declined to review the case in March.

The memorial is a Celtic-style Latin cross that sits atop a large pedestal and features the words “valor,” “endurance,” “courage,” and “devotion” on its base.

A plaque on the pedestal lists the names of 49 men from Prince George’s County who perished during World War I.

In documents filed with the Supreme Court, the American Legion argues the decision by the 4th Circuit panel “singles out and condemns the memorial merely because the memorial’s private builders chose to use a symbol that can have religious symbolism, decades before the government became involved.”

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