The Mt. Soledad cross is a monument to veterans, but its Christian nature alienated veterans of other faiths, including Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America and other non-Christian plaintiffs. They first brought the suit in district court in the 1990s. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did not order the 43-foot cross atop San Diego's Mt. Soledad removed. Instead, it sent the case back to a trial judge.
Reporting from San Diego and Los Angeles — The 43-foot cross atop public land on Mt. Soledad in San Diego is an unconstitutional "government endorsement of religion," a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, the latest twist in a two-decade legal struggle.
But the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did not order the cross removed, as the Jewish War Veterans and other litigants, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union, had hoped.
Instead, a three-judge panel sent the case back to a federal trial judge for "further proceedings" on the issue of whether the cross can be modified to "pass constitutional muster" as a war memorial, wrote Judge M. Margaret McKeown.
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