The Mount Soledad Cross (formerly known as the Mount Soledad Easter Cross) is a prominent landmark located on top of Mount Soledad in the La Jolla neighborhood of the city 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.[1] Architect Donald Campbell designed the present cross in prestressed concrete. It is 29 feet (8.8 m) tall (43 feet [13 m] including the base) with a 12-foot (3.7 m) arm spread. It is the centerpiece of the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.
Beginning in 1989, almost ten 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.[citation needed] 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.[2] 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.[3] In December 2014, Congress passed and President 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.[4]
^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.
^Jones, J. Harry, Littlefield, Dana and Moran, Greg (June 25, 2012). "Supreme Court won't hear Mt. Soledad cross case". Retrieved June 25, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Cite error: The named reference scotuss2014 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Richardson, Valerie (July 20, 2015). "Mt. Soledad cross to stand as veterans group buys land from Defense Department". The Washington Times. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
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