Is the Bladensburg Peace Cross unconstitutional or a secular honor to World War I heroes?
By Robert Barnes Robert Barnes Reporter covering the U.S. Supreme Court Email Bio Follow February 27 at 6:00 AM The Supreme Court will consider Wednesday whether a towering cross in a busy highway median just outside Washington is a historic and secular monument to World War I dead or an unconstitutional government embrace of Christianity. The Bladensburg Peace Cross, made of granite and cement, was built in 1925 and paid for by local families, businesses and the American Legion.
The commission’s brief tells the court: “Virtually every member of the court has agreed that, at minimum, the government may display symbols associated with religion where the display’s purpose and objective meaning are predominantly secular, or where the display fits within a long national tradition of similar practices.” But a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit looked at the same facts and the same test and concluded otherwise.
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