JUDGE ROY MOORE AND FOUNDATION FOR MORAL LAW FILE BRIEF IN U.S. SUPREME COURT DEFENDING VETERANS' MEMORIAL CROSS IN MOJAVE NATIONAL PRESERVE
June 8, 2009
Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore and attorneys John Eidsmoe and Ben DuPré with the Foundation for Moral Law, a religious liberties legal organization in Montgomery, Alabama, filed an amicus curiae brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court defending the constitutionality of a memorial cross erected decades ago by the Veterans of Foreign Wars atop Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve in Southern California.
Read the Foundation's Buono brief here.
After federal courts ordered the cross to be covered up, Congress transferred the public land containing the cross to a local VFW Post, but the federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9 th Circuit enjoined the land transfer and is still demanding that the cross not be displayed. The case, Salazar v. Buono (No. 08-472), is now before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judge Moore, a Vietnam War veteran, commented,
“This case is another example of activist judges triumphing over law . A cross erected to honor America's veterans is a fitting tribute to our brave servicemembers, and is certainly not a prohibited ‘law respecting an establishment of religion' under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. What's next? Will activist judges order the removal of rows of crosses at Arlington National Cemetery?”
The Foundation for Moral Law argues in its brief that the Supreme Court should decide this case based on the original understanding of the Establishment Clause, which prohibits only a “law respecting an establishment of religion.” Although a cross is certainly a Christian religious symbol, for the VFW to erect it to honor veterans does not establish any religion.
Moreover, the Foundation argues, Congressional action transferring the property containing the cross to the VFW complied with the federal court orders and was not an attempt to “evade” them “any more than payment for groceries is an attempt to evade theft laws or driving 55 mph is an attempt to evade speeding laws.” Finally, the lower federal courts failed to give appropriate deference in Congress's actions pertaining to the memorial cross and therefore violated the separation of powers.
The Foundation for Moral Law, a national non-profit legal organization, is located in Montgomery, Alabama, and is dedicated to restoring the knowledge of God in law and government through litigation and education relating to moral issues and religious liberty cases.
