Public Advocate files amicus brief supporting appeal to defend cross in Mt. Soledad at the Supreme Court
Statement of Eugene Delgaudio, president of Public Advocate
Permission granted in advance to quote any portion as long as credit or attribution
is made. Thank you.
A copy of Public Advocate 28 page legal brief is here at this link
Thursday June 12, 2014
There is a full throated lower and circuit Court press by Judicial liberals to rip the cross out of the dirt on Mount Soledad.
On March 4, 2014, the Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court docketed the Mt. Soledad
Memorial Association petition for certiorari seeking review of a December 12, 2013 district
court order requiring the removal of a 29-foot cross.
Judicial liberals danced in the streets along with their anti-Christian God hating zealots foaming
at the mouth to eradicate and destroy a simple expression of humility before God in respecting those who died serving our country.
They were determined to once and for all eliminate a Christian symbol on a hill top since 1954.
Using the full force of government tyranny, they ordered the destruction of this symbol.
Erected in 1954, the cross was dedicated as a lasting memorial to members of the
United States armed forces who died in World War I and II, and the Korean conflict.
Overlooking San Diego, California, the cross stands in the midst of eleven granite walls,
featuring more than 3,400 plaques honoring veterans of every war ever fought by the United
States and displaying over 700 American flags, 155 crosses, 27 Stars of David, 18 Masonic
symbols, 1 Buddhist symbol, 2 Native American symbols, and 12 Medals of Honor
The ninth circuit refused to allow an appeal of their decision to order the removal until the Supreme court announced a major decision recently.
However, on May 5, 2014, the Supreme Court entered an order requesting Trunk (Trunk is the respondent Mt. Soledad Memorial Association v. Trunk )to respond to the Mt. Soledad petition.
On that same date, the Court announced its 5-4 decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, ruling that city councils and other local government bodies - like the Congress of the United States and state legislatures - did not violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause by inviting clergy to open council meetings in prayer.
After reading the opinion, it became clear to Public Advocate and its legal team that, not only had the Supreme Court upheld "legislative prayer," but it did so by calling into question some of the more restrictive court precedents that had been successfully invoked to prohibit "religious displays" on
government property, such as the Mt. Soledad cross.
In other words, the Town of Greece decision is a game changer, and the
Mt. Soledad case may be the first case to put to rest the many arguments that have been
employed by the ACLU, the Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the
American Atheist Society in a concerted attempt to get God out of the public square.
In Town of Greece, the Supreme Court rejected both of major anti-Christian legal arguments made in
many of the liberal circuits.
The Court dismissed outright the claim that the Establishment Clause is violated if "the prayer gave them offense and made them feel excluded and disrespected."
The Court also dismissed the claim that the Establishment Clause is violated if a court found that the prayer had the "effect" of government "endorsement."
Until Town of Greece, many courts and constitutional experts dismissed legislative
prayer as an exception to the No Establishment guaranty.
It now appears that a majority of the current Court has decided that the long-established chaplaincy practice before Congress sets the standard governing the Establishment Clause
Public Advocate's amicus brief addresses that narrow "No Establishment" question in light of Town of Greece, emphasizing the imperative need to ensure that the constitutional principles upon which the majority relied are not limited to prayers before public bodies, but to all aspects of the American constitutional republic life, including war memorials crosses, Ten Commandment displays, and community holiday celebrations.