Taking up a case that may have implications for how its church-state rulings are applied in public schools, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said it would review a lower-court ruling that a 93-year-old cross on public land that memorializes a Maryland county’s World War I dead is unconstitutional. The case involves a 40-foot-tall memorial, known as the "Peace Cross," erected in the median of a three-highway intersection in Bladensburg, Md., by the American Legion to honor 49 men from Prince George’s County, Md., who died during World War I. In 1961, the cross and the land in which it sits was acquired by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, a state entity. Last year, ruling on a 2012 challenge brought by the American Humanist Association, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., ruled 2-1 that the cross on public land has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion. "The Latin cross is the core symbol of Christianity," the majority said. "And here, it is 40 feet tall; prominently displayed in the center of one of the busiest intersections in Prince George’s County, Maryland; […]
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