Maryland National Memorial Park

Washington, D.C. The federal government asked the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the cross, which critics say is an unconstitutional state religious endorsement. Arguments are scheduled to be heard this week. Becky Harlan/NPR hide caption toggle caption Becky Harlan/NPR A giant concrete cross standing in the middle of a busy median strip is the latest symbol of a constitutional fight that has raged for decades. It's a fight over the concept of the separation of church and state and what the Founding Fathers meant when they wrote into the First Amendment a ban on government "establishment" of religion. Just how to treat such religious symbols and taxpayer funding for programs at religious institutions will play out Wednesday before a newly constituted conservative Supreme Court majority. The case before the court involves a cross that was erected nearly 100 years ago when bereaved mothers in Bladensburg, Md., decided to build a World War I memorial to honor their fallen sons. When they ran out of money, the American Legion took over the project. But by the 1930s, a local parks commission had taken over the war memorial and the responsibility for its maintenance. Today, it sits at a busy five-way intersection, and the message it conveys all depends on whom you ask. Can a Latin cross be nonreligious? Michael Carvin, representing the American Legion, notes the cross "evokes the cemeteries in Europe that became a universally acknowledged symbol of World War I dead because of European graveyards." The Maryland National-Capital Park and Planning Commission agrees. "The first thing you notice when you see the cross is these four words at the base of the monument: valor, endurance, courage, devotion," observes lawyer Neal Katyal, who represents the commission. ...

But during the 70-minute-long argument, the court appeared more divided on the question of when a religious display located on public land is permissible. The dispute may jeopardize other cross-shaped war memorials around the country. The Peace Cross, which is part of the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial located in Prince George’s County, Md., was erected by bereaved mothers whose sons died in the war. Several of the justices noted that while the cross is the preeminent symbol of Christianity, Latin crosses were often used to memorialize service members killed during World War I. Additionally, the cross bears no religious writings and is part of a larger park with other monuments for past armed conflicts. But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the lead member of the court's liberal wing, stressed the prominence of crosses in the Christian faith, noting that “people wear crosses” to show their devotion to Christianity. In one exchange, Chief Justice John Roberts, who often sides with conservatives, questioned American Humanist Association attorney Monica Miller, who challenged the constitutionality of the cross, whether a Native American totem erected on property owned by the federal government would have to be taken down. Ginsburg, meanwhile, asked Neal Katyal, representing the Maryland commission that owns the monument, whether a cross-shaped memorial honoring those killed during a school shooting would be permissible. The key question in the case is whether the 94-year-old Peace Cross violates the Establishment Clause, which bars the government from favoring one religion over another. The American Humanist Association filed a complaint in federal court in 2014 arguing the memorial was unconstitutional, but the district court disagreed. A three-judge panel on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, however, reversed the lower court’s ruling, saying the “purported war memorial breaches the wall o...

S. Supreme Court took a light touch on cultural issues following the contentious confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh this fall, the period of restraint didn't last long. div div.group p:first-child" The justices on Wednesday are set to hear arguments over whether a giant, four-story World War I memorial cross located in a busy Maryland intersection and maintained by the government can remain standing. The case, which touches at the core of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, is the most significant dispute over a public monument to reach the top court since Chief Justice John Roberts took the helm. It comes before the court in the wake of controversial orders connected to abortion and a Muslim inmate's religious rights during execution, and just a month after the justices said they would hear their first major gun-control case in nearly a decade. The case also comes amid heightened focus on the First Amendment. Earlier this month, Chief Justice John Roberts declared himself "the most aggressive defender" of the First Amendment in public remarks, while Justice Clarence Thomas took aim at one of the court's most important press freedom rulings. The litigation concerns a 40-foot-tall, 16-ton cross-shaped memorial to veterans of the first World War. The cross sits at the entrance to the town of Bladensburg, where it has been since 1925. Its maintenance is funded by a government agency that has spent just over $100,000 on the monument since 1985. Opponents of the cross say it violates the Constitution's wall of separation between government and religion. They include humanists, whose philoso...