Court Arguments This Week Focus on Destiny of Mt. Soledad Cross
by Ed Thomas
October 19, 2006
(AgapePress) - - The battle for the fate of the Mt. Soledad cross veterans memorial continues this week with two key oral arguments in state and federal courts in California concerning the San Diego monument. The cases involve a challenge to the city's attempts to federalize the memorial, and a judge's previous order to take the cross down. Thomas More Law Center attorney Charles LiMandri argued Tuesday in California's Fourth District Court of Appeals on behalf of San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial, a local group trying to save the cross through a ballot initiative that transferred it to the federal government. The legality of that action was in question in the case.
"Even with the transfer to the federal government under the new statute, there are issues that overlap with the prior statute that [the judge] ruled, the Proposition A, all constitutional -- which was basically a gift of the property, a donation from the City of San Diego to the federal government," the attorney explains. "[The judge] says you can't do that, but there's issues that are similar with the new federal statute which constituted an actual taking of the property."
LiMandri indicates that he feels good about how the court will respond. "We think this court's going to go ahead and issue a decision, and from the way the questioning went today, we're very encouraged by it," says LiMandri. "And we're optimistic that the court understood the issues -- and because they understood the issues, [that they] are likely to go our way in deciding the case."
LiMandri's colleague, Thomas Muise, is representing the same San Diego group today (Thursday, October 19) before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a case in which a federal district judge's May 2006 order to remove the cross was stayed by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. Muise, who -- like LiMandri -- is optimistic about the ultimate outcome in the matter, says veterans and their families have a big stake in the fate of this 17-year battle for the life of the Mt. Soledad cross.
"The stay by Justice Kennedy and the recent Act of Congress are significant factors that have shifted the momentum of this case in favor of preserving the memorial cross," Muise states in a press release. "We are hopeful that this Ninth Circuit panel will preserve this historical war memorial for future generations of Americans. Our fallen heroes have earned it."
According to the press release, Muise will argue for the case to be dismissed based on "mootness grounds." President Bush's mid-August signing of a congressional act immediately transferred all title and interest in the cross and memorial to the federal government. As of that date, says the Law Center, the city of San Diego no longer owns the property where the memorial sits -- thereby making the lower court's injunction no longer enforceable.
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
