In a decision on Monday that preserves the thanks of a nation for the sacrifice of Americans who died in World War I, Maryland federal judge Deborah Chasanow (a Clinton appointee) threw out a lawsuit filed by the American Humanist Association over a forty-foot-tall war memorial that is almost 100 years old.
The monument, built in the shape of a Latin cross by the American Legion and located at the intersection of Maryland Route 450 and U.S. Route 1 in Bladensburg, was first dedicated in 1925, although the effort to raise funds to build the memorial started in late 1918. Since 1960, the monument has been owned and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. Prior to that time it was owned and maintained by the American Legion.
The monument is part of a local Veterans Memorial Park that also contains memorials to veterans and those who died in World War II, Pearl Harbor, Korea and Vietnam, 9/11, the War of 1812, and the Battle of Bladensburg. The Bladensburg Cross has a plaque that says the “Memorial Cross is dedicated to the heroes of Prince George’s County Maryland who lost their lives in the Great War for the liberty of the world” and has a quotation from President Woodrow Wilson. Four words are inscribed on each face of the cross: “valor, endurance, courage, devotion.”
The lawsuit was filed by the American Humanist Association, as well as several individuals who were apparently “offended” that they had to drive by the monument and see it every day on a very busy highway. They claimed that because the World War I memorial is in the shape of a cross, “ownership, maintenance and prominent display of the Monument on public property violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was denied permission to file an amicus brief on the side of the plaintiffs. The Liberty Institute and Jones Day represented the defendants.
Source: http://dailysignal.com/2015/12/01/judge-throws-out-lawsuit-filed-by-those-who-found-a-wwi-memorial-cross-offensive/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRovu6vMZKXonjHpfsX56%2BkkWq%2BwlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4AT8VlNq%2BTFAwTG5toziV8R7jHKM1t0sEQWBHm