Supreme Court Appears To Be Leaning in One Specific Direction About 40-Foot Cross

Supreme Court Appears To Be Leaning in One Specific Direction About 40-Foot Cross The Supreme Court seemed poised Wednesday to protect a 40-foot memorial cross on public land in Bladensburg, Maryland, from a lawsuit that argues it violates the Constitution. the justices appeared divided and confused about the court’s jurisprudence concerning religion in public life. On one day in 2005, for example, the High Court ruled that a statue of the Ten Commandments near the Texas State Capitol did not violate the Constitution but that a similar display in a Kentucky courthouse did. Two parties are separately defending the memorial, known colloquially as the Peace Cross: the American Legion and the Maryland state parks commission that administers the site today. The Legion urged the court to sanction government-backed sectarian displays provided they do not proselytize or coerce onlookers into religious practice. Justice Neil Gorsuch said he did not see how that solution was meaningfully different from the current case law Chief Justice John Roberts sounded similar themes but acknowledged that each religious display case is unique, making general rules and clear tests difficult in this area of law. The parks commission argued on more narrow grounds, saying that the Peace Cross does not suggest explicitly Christian concepts. Justice Elena Kagan seemed to agree with that proposition, noting the cross stood without objection for over 90 years.

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