 | | Comrades, Colleagues, and Patriots: Great news on the eve of the Fourth of July: The U.S. Supreme Court, by order of Justice Kennedy, has granted a stay of the order of the U.S. District Court in San Diego which set an August 1, 2006, deadline to tear down the Cross at the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial or the federal judge would impose a $5,000 per day fine on taxpayers until the Cross was destroyed. (See, e.g., USA Today story at above website.) The Supreme Court order stays the lower court order until appeals can be heard in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and an appeal in the California 4th District Court of Appeal from the decision of a Superior Court judge who nullified a special election in which 75% of the voters voted to transfer the site to the federal government. Motions for expedited hearings in both courts were granted. Hearings are expected to be held in October. The Supreme Court order came in response to an emergency petition for a stay order filed by the San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad National War Memorial by lead attorney Charles S. LiMandri, Regional Director of the Thomas More Law Center, which also led the citizens petition drive which led to the election in which three-quarters of the voters voted to preserve the site by transfer to the federal government. President Bush has been called upon to exercise his authority to incorporate the site, which has already been designated a U.S. veterans memorial, into the federal park system. Rep. Duncan Hunter, the Mayor of San Diego, and the National Commander of the 2.7-million member American Legion, Thomas L. Bock, and others, have called on President Bush to federalize the site. The White House has reportedly considering alternative ways to approach the problem. The District Court ordered the Cross destroyed in a lawsuit brought by an atheist represented by an attorney reportedly backed by the ACLU. That Court has already awarded thousands of dollars in taxpayer-paid attorney fees to that lawyer under the attorney fee award provisions of the Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S. Code Section 1988, The Public Expression of Religion Act, HR 2679, pending in the House, would eliminate the authority of judges to award taxpayer-paid attorney fees in Establishment of Religion claims. That Act is expected to reach the floor of the House for a vote in July. It is strongly supported by The American Legion, which launched a grassroots campaign through its 15,000 Posts in support of the reform bill. Attorney Charles LiMandri of the Thomas More Law Center has done been outstanding in leading the litigation effort to save the Mt. Soledad 52-year-old veterans memorial as it is, where it is, despite the efforts of the ACLU-backed atheist who is offended by it. I am proud that The American Legion, and the American Legion Department of California, with the assistance of attorneys from Liberty Legal Institute and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) respectively, filed a joint amicus (friend of the court) brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the emergency petition for a stay order which has now been granted. FOR GOD AND COUNTRY FOREVER; SURRENDER TO THE ACLU -- NEVER! --Rees REES LLOYD, Attorney
Commander, District 21
Director, Defense of Veterans Memorials Project
of the Department of California and Alliance Defense Fund
(951-849-8676) |
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STATEMENT OF:
S. WAYNE PARRISH, COMMANDER
THE AMERICAN LEGION DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA
MAY 25, 2006
AT MT. SOLDEDAD VETERANS MEMORIAL PRESS CONFERENCE OF THE AMERICAN LEGION DEPARTMENT OF CALIFORNIA TO LAUNCH DEFENSE OF VETERANS MEMORIALS PROJECT The American Legion Department of California holds this press conference at the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego today to announce initiation of our unprecedented statewide Defense of Veterans Memorials Project.
 It is a fitting place, as the eyes of our nation are on the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial as it faces desecration and amputation by judicial order to please an atheist offended by it.
It is a fitting time, as our nation prepares to remember all those who gave their lives in service to our nation on Memorial Day 2006.
Mt. Soledad is today not only a symbol in tribute to our American veterans, but a symbol of the assault on the memory of those veterans by self-interested parties determined to disrespect and desecrate this memorial, because it includes a symbol of religious significance, a cross, which offends them.
America’s veterans memorials have become a casualty of litigation wars as atheists and special interest organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union pursue their fanatical secular cleansing agendas. We wartime veterans in the American Legion Department of California are fed up with legal attacks on veterans memorials, like the cross memorial at Mt. Soledad, and we intend to fight back through our new California Defense of Veterans Memorials Project.
The California Department’s Defense of Veterans Project represents a new dimension in our effort to protect our veterans memorials. We are grateful to the Alliance Defense Fund in coming forward on the legal front to aid veterans in this cause.
The American Legion Department of California believes that there ought to be a decent respect for what so many millions of veterans view as sacred--places set aside to honor and remember the service and sacrifice of our fallen comrades in defense of American freedom.
We are giving notice today that The American Legion, Department of California, intends to stand and fight in defense of memorials to those who defended America, and against the courtroom attacks of those offended by America, including the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial, our veterans cemeteries, and all memorials honoring the service and sacrifice of those who answered when our country called.
I have named American Legionnaire Rees Lloyd, a longtime civil rights attorney who serves as my special counsel for civil rights, as Director of our Defense of Veterans Memorials Project. He can articulate the legal actions we will be taking in association with the Alliance Defense Fund , and Attorney Charles S. LiMandri, counsel for the San Diegans for the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial who have fought long and hard to save the memorial without amputation.
I believe I can articulate what is in the hearts of the veterans in the American Legion, because it is what is in my heart – a sense of disgust at the ACLU and others who attack our veterans memorials, a sense of betrayal by our courts, and a determination to end this abuse. For More Information, contact:
Rees Lloyd, Attorney, phone: 951-849-8676; cel: 951-867-1551 top |
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“Don’t let another sacred symbol fall.”
Thomas L. Bock
National Commander, The American Legion
In 1954, residents of San Diego erected a 29-foot cross on Mount Soledad as part of a memorial for Korean War veterans. More than 50 years later, a federal judge is tearing that part of the memorial down, just the latest example of the American Civil Liberties Union’s relentless attack on American values. In May, U.S. District Judge Gordon Thompson ordered the City of San Diego to remove the cross or face a fine of $5,000 for each day it remained standing on city property. The ruling came 15 years after Thompson originally ruled the cross was a violation of separation between church and state. Originally filed in 1989 by atheist Phillip Paulsen, the lawsuit had remained in the courts until May, with the ACLU guiding the lawsuit. A majority of San Diego’s residents clearly want the cross to remain. In just 23 days, a group called San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial gathered 105,000 signatures in favor of placing a proposition on the ballot calling for the city to give the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Walls, the Veterans Memorial Cross and the land they both sit on to the federal government under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Service. In July 2004, the measure passed with 75 percent of the vote, but the transfer was later ruled unconstitutional. It appears the ACLU has won this battle, and another expression of religion has been suppressed. As an ACLU target, the Mount Soledad cross joins the Pledge of Allegiance phrase “under God,” the Ten Commandments and other religious symbols or expressions. And don’t think it can’t happen locally to The American Legion, an organization working “for God and country.” Last year, in the small town of Fairfax, Minn., G.F.W. Schools officials told B.B.M. Post 205 that members couldn’t come into the system’s middle school and conduct its annual Veterans Day program, as it has done for years. The reason? “They were afraid they’d get sued,” says Post 205 Commander Lorenz Canfield. “They said if we didn’t have an opening and closing prayer in the program that we could have the program in the school.” Post 205 didn’t back off, deciding instead to host the program at the post building. Hundreds of children received permission slips to attend, and on the day of the program they marched behind the post’s color guard from the school to the post. If this can happen in a town of 1,200 people, it can happen anywhere. What’s next?
Will the ACLU target the 9,387 crosses and Stars of David honoring World War II heroes killed during the invasion of Normandy?
The Public Expression of Religion Act [H.R.2679] may be the only way to stop this assault. House Resolution 2679, authored by U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., seeks “to amend the Revised Statutes of the United States to eliminate the chilling effect on the constitutionally protected expression of religion by state and local officials that results from the threat that potential litigants may seek damages and attorney fees.” What many in the general public don’t realize is that the ACLU seeks and receives millions of dollars annually in taxpayer-paid attorney fee awards ordered by judges in ACLU Establishment Clause lawsuits, including: Banning cities and the Department of Defense from assisting the Boy Scouts. Banning the Ten Commandments from federal and municipal courthouses. Banning religious symbols from veterans memorials. Without the potential for a financial windfall, ACLU attorneys would be less likely to file these types of lawsuits in the first place. PERA would apply only to establishment-clause lawsuits and no other civil-rights claims. Gather support for PERA by contacting members of your community, your local government leaders and your representatives in Washington. Too many sacred symbols already have been casualties of the ACLU’s war on American values.We need to stop the attacks now. [Reprinted from The American Legion DISPATCH. (www.Legion.org; 317-630-1298) by The American Legion Department of California Defense of Veterans Memorials Project www.calegion.org, 951-572-5370), and District 21. A grassroots guide to support PERA, HR 2679, “In the Footsteps of the Founders,” is downloadable at www.legion.org, or on request to The American Legion, PO Box 1055, Indianapolis, IN 46206 (317-630-1253)] top |
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