Litigation

Controversial Cross in Desert Has Vanished

By Peter Hardin

The cross in the Mojave National Preserve that was the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision is missing.

It was made of steel pipes filled with concrete, and a spokesman for the National Preserve said someone had taken it.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, which put a predecessor of the stolen cross on the rural preserve, offered a $25,000 reward, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

Was this a case of someone disliking a Supreme Court ruling, and taking the law into their own hands? That was the view of
Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel at the Liberty Institute. It which represented veterans groups in the legal fight.

“It hasn’t even been two weeks since the Supreme Court decision, and evidently someone didn’t like that decision and took the law into their own hands and tore it down,” he said.

In a fractured opinion, the high court said the cross could stay, for now; it sent the legal dispute back to a lower federal court (see Gavel Grab). The cross was intended as a memorial to honor fallen soldiers from World War I.

Full post as published by The Gavel on May 12, 2010 (boomark / email).