WASHINGTON, D.C. – Liberty Counsel is filing an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of a case involving a 93-year-old 40-foot cross war memorial in Bladensburg, Maryland that the American Humanist Association has challenged as violating the Establishment Clause.
The "Peace Cross," made of granite and cement, was built in 1925 as a tribute to local men who died during World War I. The Gold-Star Mothers who designed the memorial in 1919 chose the shape to recall the crosses marking the countless American graves on the Western Front of that war. A plaque on the base of the cross lists the names of 49 soldiers and both faces of the cross have a circle with the symbol of the American Legion, the veterans' organization that helped raise money to build it. It was also paid for by local families and businesses. It stands on a piece of land that has been owned since 1961 by a state commission at Maryland Route 450 and U.S. Route 1 in Bladensburg, approximately five miles from the U.S. Supreme Court.
