San Diego Appeals Ruling to Remove Mt. Soledad Cross

Posted on June 3, 2006

Via AP

Hours before a court-ordered deadline, San Diego on Friday asked courts to stay a ruling by a federal judge who ordered a giant concrete cross removed from city-owned land. But Mayor Jerry Sanders signaled that if its appeal fails, the cross will come down and bring an end to a 17-year legal battle.

The city appealed a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Gordon Thompson, Jr., who ordered the city to take down the 29-foot cross before Aug. 2 or pay daily fines of $5,000.

Thompson’s May 3 ruling, which he described as “long overdue,” found the cross to be an unconstitutional display of government preference of one religion over another. The city had until Friday to seek a stay of Thompson’s ruling.

City Attorney Mike Aguirre filed a request for a stay with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The city filed a related appeal Wednesday challenging the judge’s ruling in favor of atheist Philip Paulson, who sued over the cross that has stood for a half-century on public land atop Mount Soledad in La Jolla.

Aguirre said he did not expect the appeal to succeed, but maintained that the city had a duty to exhaust its options in order to respect the will of voters who approved a measure designed to preserve the cross. Both Aguirre and Sanders said that they would respect the appellate court’s decision.

“If for any reason the stay is not granted, the city will observe the judge’s ruling,” Sanders said Friday. “In no case will the city pay a fine as a direct result of the judge’s ruling.”

Ever since Paulson filed suit in 1989, the city has tried to sell the property to a private buyer. But federal courts have repeatedly blocked the sale, saying the transactions were designed to favor a buyer who would maintain the cross. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the city’s appeal in 2003.

San Diego voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot proposition last year to transfer the land beneath the cross to the federal government. That measure was designed to absolve the city of responsibility for the cross under the existing lawsuit, but a Superior Court judge found the proposition to be unconstitutional. The city also is appealing that decision.

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One Response to “San Diego Appeals Ruling to Remove Mt. Soledad Cross”

kerwin_brown on June 5th, 2006 2:14 pm

Bush has showed his contempt for conservative voters by not standing up for the peoples rights. Do not forget his and his follow Republicans betrayal of the people of the United States. Do not be discieved if you choose to allow evil to trumph then the results are your fault.