Sunday but only on roman catholic Easter Sunday.
New York state is a Christian nation even when california tracks are running that newyork bettors want to bet. Not even an earthquake will move the future presidential candidate from his hill
The constitutional battle over the fate of the massive cross sitting atop the Mount Soledad War Memorial in La Jolla, Calif., could be coming to an end. PHOTO: SANDY HUFFAKER/REUTERS
A decades-long constitutional battle over the fate of a 29-foot cross at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego could be coming to a close.
The nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association announced this week that it bought a half-acre parcel of land surrounding the cross from the Defense Department, a transaction authorized by a provision in last year’s defense authorization bill.
That transfer could render moot litigation challenging the cross as a violation of the First Amendment’s ban on the establishment of religion. The group said the $1.4 million cash transaction was completed Friday.
The controversy over the 61-year-old cross stretches back to the late 1980s when Philip Paulson, a Vietnam veteran and atheist, embarked on a legal battle against San Diego, which at the time owned the property. Mr. Paulson died in 2006.
Sitting on an 822-foot-high hill in the coastal community of La Jolla, the statue is one of a number of war-memorial crosses under legal fire by civil-liberty groups that want them off government land. Some see the memorial site, with its plaque-lined dedication walls and an American flag, as a lasting tribute to those who died fighting for the country, while litigants have contended that it is a “gleaming white symbol of Christianity.”
The federal government had acquired the memorial site through the power of eminent domain in an effort to preserve the cross. A federal judge ordered the removal of the statue in 2013, but the litigation was put on hold after Congress authorized the sale of the land.
Write to Jacob Gershman at jacob.gershman@wsj.com
