The Mount Soledad Cross (formerly the Mount Soledad Easter Cross) is a prominent landmark located on top of Mount Soledad in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California. The present structure was erected in 1954; it is the third Christian cross in that location, the first having been put up in 1913.Randal C. Archibold, High on a Hill Above San Diego, a Church-State Fight Plays Out, The New York Times, October 1, 2005, p. 9. Architect Donald Campbell designed the present cross in prestressed concrete. It is tall ( including the base) with a arm spread. It is the centerpiece of the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.
Beginning in 1989, almost 10 years before the immediate area around the cross was turned into a war memorial, until 2015, the Mount Soledad Cross was involved in continuous litigation regarding its legal status. The cross's opponents won court decisions showing that it is illegal to display a religious symbol, such as a Christian cross, on public land, as it demonstrates preference to a specific religion and thus violates the principle of separation of church and state under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution. Judges sided with plaintiffs on multiple occasions and ruled that the cross is illegal and had to be removed or sold to the highest bidder. Defenders of the cross explored several options for preserving the cross.
In 1998, the City of San Diego sold the cross and the land it stands on to the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association, and the cross was transformed into being the centerpiece of a newly erected Korean War Memorial. The land under the cross was eventually transferred to the federal government. In 2011, a federal appeals court found the cross unconstitutional, and in 2012 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, returning the issue to federal court. In December 2013, a federal judge ordered the cross to be removed, but stayed the order pending appeal. In June 2014, the Supreme Court declined to review a case concerning the cross as the previous appeal had not been heard. In December 2014, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015, which included a provision that "authorizes the Secretary of Defense to convey (the cross) to the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Association, subject to certain conditions." On July 20, 2015, the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association bought the land under the cross from the Dept. of Defense for $1.4 million, ending its unconstitutionality.
History Three differently shaped Christian crosses have been constructed since 1913 on city government property at the apex of Mt. Soledad (Mt. Soledad Natural Park) in the community of La Jolla. The original wooden cross on Mt. Soledad was erected in 1913 by private citizens living in La Jolla and Pacific Beach, but was stolen in 1923; later that year it was affixed back in the ground in Mt. Soledad Natural Park and later burned. The second cross was erected in 1934 by a private group of Protestant Christians from La Jolla and Pacific Beach. This sturdier, stucco-over-wood frame cross was blown down by blustery winds in 1952. A windstorm damaged one of the side bars in 1955 and the concrete structure had to be repaired.
The present cross, tall on top of a -tall stepped platform, was installed in 1954. It was initially called the "Mount Soledad Easter Cross" and Easter services were held there annually for 40 years. The word "Easter" was dropped in the 1980s.
The site is known as the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. Besides the cross, the memorial includes six walls with granite plaques depicting veterans, military units, or groups.
Summary of key legal issues Whether the Mt. Soledad Easter Cross is a war memorial or an unmistakable symbol of the Christian religion has been a subject of legal debate for the following reasons:
After the dedication of the cross in 1954 Easter services were held at the site annually and annual publication of local maps from 1954 to 1989 presented a geographic legal description of the location as the "Mt. Soledad Easter Cross" which after 1989 the name of the location on the map was changed to the "Mt. Soledad Memorial." – There was no placard or marker to be found anywhere on Mt. Soledad Natural Park nor at the site of the Mt. Soledad Easter Cross to indicate that it was a veterans' memorial until litigation started in 1989,p. 212(See picture below of the Plaque at the base of the cross).:File:Mt.Soledad Plaque.jpg Easter holiday sunrise since 1954 was an "intermittent" occasion at the Mt. Soledad Cross for local Christian worship services.p. 35 The attendance of the service was estimated at 1,300 in 1983 and 900-1,000 in 1984. By the mid-1980s, to blunt possible legal challenges, Easter sunrise gatherings at the site of the cross were being advertised as "celebrations" rather than "services", were interdenominational and open to the public. On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1996, University of California-San Diego Political Science Professor (Emeritus) Peter Irons applied for and was granted a permit and conducted a well-attended secular sunrise rally for people of all religions and for those with no religion. There is no record of a Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or any other major religious sect or denomination having a religious service on Mt. Soledad. The Mt. Soledad Easter Cross was dedicated to "Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" in a dedication bulletin by the grandmother of William J. Kellogg, President of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association on Easter Sunday, 1954. – [Paulson v. City of San Diego, 262 F.3d 885 (9th Cir. 2001), Documents on file with the US District Court of Southern California] The Mt. Soledad Memorial Association made improvements to the property within Mt. Soledad Natural Park. All improvements were added after the original case was filed and while litigation proceedings were taking place "Six concentric walls hold 3,200 black granite plaques purchased by donors and engraved with the names and photos of war veterans – currently more than 1,700 are in place." The Mount Soledad Memorial Association says the purpose of the Veterans Memorial at Mt. Soledad Park is to commemorate and memorialize all those who died during the Korean War era. Plaintiff Philip Paulson (Paulson v. City of San Diego) claimed that the Mt. Soledad Cross fosters an excessive entanglement by government with religion. In 1916 by Ordinance No. 6670, the Mt. Soledad Natural Park became dedicated city owned parkland. Paulson and others argue that the City can only honor veterans with an inclusive memorial that is "religiously neutral" to honor veterans of all faiths, and also those with no religious faith. [The "Lemon Test" pursuant to US Supreme Court ruling in Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971) required government to remain "religiously neutral" with respect to religion. To be constitutional, a statute must have "a secular legislative purpose," it must have principal effects which neither advance nor inhibit religion, and it must not foster "an excessive government entanglement with religion."]
The American Civil Liberties Union proposed ways to resolve the situation:
The cross may be dismantled. The cross may be sold to a third party and physically transferred off the public land. A Presbyterian church, located within a few hundred feet from the present location of the cross, has agreed to place it on its property. The government may hold an auction and sell the parcel of the land with the cross to the highest bidder. However, the government is not allowed to give any preference to those buyers who are interested in preserving the cross. An auction such as this was the subject of Proposition K in 2004, which failed 40% to 59%.
Some defenders of the cross see all these options as unacceptable and are determined to find a way to leave the cross intact in its present location.
Litigation
Background
No Preference Clause Article 1, Section 4 of the California State Constitution: subtitled "Liberty of Conscience." California state, municipal and special units of government are instructed by this "No Preference Clause" from discriminating or preferring one religion over another.
"Free exercise and enjoyment of religion without discrimination or preference are guaranteed. This liberty of conscience does not excuse acts that are licentious or inconsistent with the peace or safety of the State. The Legislature shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. A person is not incompetent to be a witness or juror because of his or her opinions on religious beliefs."
Government prohibition from benefiting religion
Article XVI, section 5 of the California State Constitution: State, County and local units of government can not use tax money or grant property to aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose.
"Neither the Legislature, nor any county, city and county, township, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall ever make an appropriation, or pay from any public fund whatever, or grant anything to or in aid of any religious sect, church, creed, or sectarian purpose, or help to support or sustain any school, college, university, hospital, or other institution controlled by any religious creed, church, or sectarian denomination whatever; nor shall any grant or donation of personal property or real estate ever be made by the State, or any city, city and county, town, or other municipal corporation for any religious creed, church, or sectarian purpose whatever; provided, that nothing in this section shall prevent the Legislature granting aid pursuant to Section 3 of Article XVI."'
First attempted sale to Mount Soledad Memorial Association
The City of San Diego was the target of a lawsuit on May 31, 1989 charging that the presence of the cross violated the California Constitution and the first amendment of the United States Constitution relating to separation of church and state in the United States.Docket for Paulson, et al v. City of San Diego, et al from RECAP On December 3, 1991, Gordon Thompson, Jr., a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Philip K. Paulson, resident of San Diego and a Vietnam War veteran, noting that the cross was permanently positioned inside a public park and was maintained at taxpayers' expense. He further noted that it violated Article 1, Section 4 of the California Constitution, which is known as the "No Preference" Clause.;
During this first phase of the case, the plaintiffs were represented pro bono by lawyer and legal scholar Peter Irons. He discontinued his involvement in the case in 1998 when threats made him fear for the safety of his two daughters.