SAN DIEGO—Today the Alliance Defense Fund delivered a letter to the San Diego City Council offering to defend the city for free if a legal challenge is made to any decision the city makes to transfer a veterans memorial to the federal government.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the memorial, which includes a large cross at the top of a hill and plaques commemorating American military veterans, is unconstitutional. The court ruled that the cross violates the California Constitution because it sits on city property.
“The 9th Circuit’s decision was an affront to all of America’s veterans and the people that wish to honor them,” said ADF attorney Robert Tyler. “We believe it to be perfectly constitutional for the city to transfer the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial to the federal government now that Congress has designated the property as a national veterans memorial.”
If the city decides to transfer the property to the federal government, the memorial will become part of the National Park System and would no longer be affected by the 9th Circuit’s decision. The city council met to consider the matter at a hearing held today.
“We are prepared to defend the city in the event the transfer is challenged,” Tyler said. “We believe honoring America’s veterans by means of the longstanding symbol of the cross is fully constitutional on any public property.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.