A judge for the US District Court for the District of Maryland [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that the display of a prominent cross-shaped war memorial in a public park operated by Prince George County does not violate the Establishment Clause [text] of the First Amendment. The monument, known as the “Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial,” is a 40-foot Latin cross embellished with the symbols of the American Legion [website] and inscribed with a dedication to “the heroes of Prince George’s County Maryland.” One side of the cross flies the American flag. The American Humanist Association [advocacy website] first brought the case [complaint, PDF] in February 2014. The court held that the presence and use of the cross is primarily secular, noting that the monument was primarily used for patriotic occasions to commemorate veterans. Therefore, the purpose of the monument was not to promulgate religion, a violation of the First Amendment, but to commemorate veterans.

Religious displays on public property pose a controversial First Amendment question. Last month a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas [official website] ruled [opinion] that a nativity scene on Baxter County Courthouse grounds violates the First Amendment [JURIST report]. That case was also brought by the AHA. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] that a six-foot-tall statue of Jesus may remain on US Forest Service land [JURIST report]. The Freedom From Religion Foundation [advocacy website] filed the suit claiming that the statue, located atop Whitefish Mountain in Montana, violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. In May the Ninth Circuit upheld [JURIST report] a Santa Monica, California, city ordinance prohibiting unattended exhibits, including Nativity scenes, in Palisades Park. Last year a judge for the US District Court for the District of New Mexico ruled that a New Mexico city must remove a Ten Commandments monument [JURIST report] placed outside of Bloomfield city hall.