Organization Files Appeal to Supreme Court Over Mt. Soledad Cross

The Liberty Institute and other supporters of the Mount Soledad cross, including the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, hosted a rally at the base of the war memorial on Thursday morning to announce the appeal to an appellate court’s ruling declaring the cross unconstitutional. The appeal was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.

“The original monument evoked images of the time-honored tradition of erected crosses in battlefields around the world to honor the dead. Today there are thousands of crosses standing on the battlefields of Normandy. There are large memorial crosses in Arlington National Cemetery. Why shouldn’t there be a memorial cross in San Diego too? This is a military city, whose veterans deserve to be remembered,” said William J. Kellogg, chairman and CEO of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association.

Kellogg spoke at the rally attended by more than 100 supporters and a handful of protesters. He said a simple cross was first erected on Mount Soledad in 1954.

“It overlooks the Miramar Naval base, the former Marine Corps recruiting depot, Camp Pendleton and the battleships stationed in San Diego Harbor. It was erected just a stone’s throw from the Mount Soledad transmitters, which were part of the early warning defense system for the Western of the United States,” said Kellogg.

Supporters say the cross is part of a war memorial. Opponents say it unconstitutionally favors a religion on federal property. The land underneath the cross – part of a memorial originally dedicated to those killed in the Korean War – has been under federal control since 2006.

Retired Marine Lt. Col. Jack Harkins, chairman of the United Veterans Council, said the monuments stands in tribute to the veterans that deserve remembrance.

“Let future generations enjoy their right to the same experience and let this monument stand,” Harkin said as a speaker at the rally.

Retired Army Col. David Epstein, a member of the Jewish War Veterans, said “this cross does not exclude people like me.” Epstein, who has a plaque at the memorial and also is a trustee of the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, added that many Jewish veterans have plaques at the La Jolla memorial.

“Support this monument. It does not exclude anybody,” said Epstein.

Kelly Shackelford, president and CEO of Liberty Institute, said our country and veterans deserve more than these attacks against the war memorial and cross.

“I think it is time to put an end to these attacks,” said Shackelford. “… This is a long battle. It has been going on for 22 years, but we are finally at the final place. We are at the U.S. Supreme Court. They can take this and resolve this nation-wide. And every veteran’s memorial and all the attacks against those will be off the table. This will be something of the past. And, we can go back to celebrating and to remembering and to respecting what our veterans did for our country.”

Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by voice vote a bill by San Diego's Republican congressional delegation to protect religious symbols on war memorials.

The bill still has to go through the Senate and be signed by President Barack Obama before it becomes law – and it remains unclear whether the proposed law would pass constitutional muster.

–City News Service contributed to this report.

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