News and Views

NINTH CIRCUIT ERRED IN ATTACKING MOJAVE CROSS VETERANS MEMORIAL, LEWIS BELIEVES

            WASHINGTON – Congressman Jerry Lewis voiced extreme disappointment Thursday at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholding a ruling that orders the dismantling of the Mojave Cross veteran’s memorial and called for the Justice Department to consider an appeal to the Supreme Court.

            “It is a terrible shame that the Ninth Circuit has determined that it is not possible to honor our veterans if the shape of the memorial happens to be a cross, and that a historic monument placed by veterans has no legal standing when attacked by the ACLU,” said Lewis, who has worked for years to defend the memorial. “The court’s support of this attack on memorials could have serious consequences for the thousands of monuments to veterans at our historic battlefields across the nation.”

            As a 70-year-old monument first erected by World War I veterans, the Mojave Cross has been designated as a national memorial by Congress and has been strongly supported by the American Legion at its national convention. At Congressman Lewis’s request, Congress has set aside funds to recreate a plaque identifying the site as a memorial to veterans. In a separate action, Congress agreed to exchange the acre containing the cross with five acres of privately owned land in another part of the preserve. The legislation would transfer ownership of the memorial land to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

            “This strong support by Congress and our nation’s veterans for this historic memorial has apparently amounted to nothing in the eyes of the court, when compared with the ACLU’s argument that someone might drive deep into the desert in order to be offended by a simple cross,” Lewis said. “I would ask the Justice Department to look into the feasibility of appealing this decision to the Supreme Court where the rights of Congress and veterans may be more fairly weighed."

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