Vets group fights to protect monuments

The American Legion and two conservative legal organizations announced a joint project May 24 to protect the nation’s veteran and war memorials from lawsuits.

The effort is aimed at protecting such monuments as the Mount Soledad cross war memorial in San Diego and the Mojave Desert cross war memorial in California — both of which have been targets of suits by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), with mixed results.

The Mount Soledad cross — which was dedicated in 1954 and initially honored Korean War veterans but now honors all vets — still stands following a string of legal victories by supporters. But the Mojave Desert cross — first erected in 1934 as a memorial to World War I vets — currently is covered up due to a judge’s order. Both prominent crosses initially sat on public land, although officials have attempted to save the memorials by making the land private.

The joint project between the American Legion, the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Liberty Legal Institute seeks to educate the public about such lawsuits and to be proactive in defending memorials not yet under attack. ADF and Liberty Legal will represent the American Legion — the nation’s largest veterans’ service organization — in any suits.

“The question in everybody’s mind is, what about Arlington? Where does this end?” ADF attorney Joe Infranco said. “This is a campaign to call attention to what’s happening, to proactively identify memorials that may be in danger and to contact municipalities and offer a free legal analysis if the memorial is sued by a group like the ACLU.”

The ACLU says on its Web site that individual headstones aren’t the target and that families “have the right” to choose headstone religious symbols. But Infranco said other organizations could file such a suit.

In December 2005, American Atheists filed a federal suit seeking to remove crosses on public land along highways in Utah that honor state troopers killed in the line of duty. The suit argues the monuments violate the federal Constitution’s establishment clause. (BP)