Opinion: Why the Peace Cross case is so important
The World War I memorial cross in Bladensburg, Md. By Harry Litman Harry Litman Contributing columnist focused on legal issues Bio Follow Contributing columnist March 1 at 11:06 AM If you’re driving through Prince George’s County, Md., about a half hour from Washington, you might suddenly come across, on public land, at one of the busiest intersections in the area, a 40-foot cross towering over the landscape.
The case is the most important to date in the current Supreme Court term, not simply because of the fate of the cross itself but rather because of the possibility that in deciding its constitutionality, the court will overhaul its establishment clause doctrine. A straightforward application of an endorsement test would seem to doom the cross. The doctrinal reasons are complex, but the heart of the matter is common-sensical and unavoidable. As Justice Elena Kagan observed in questioning on Wednesday, the very idea that the cross has a “secular meaning” is problematic because the cross “invokes the central theological claim of Christianity that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on the cross for humanity’s sins and that he rose from the dead.
In Wednesday’s arguments, the court seemed disinclined to take this radical, society-changing step. Indeed, a second petitioner, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission , urged the court that it did not need to revisit its doctrine at all to uphold the cross. Rather, it said, the cross could be upheld under current doctrine based on the importance of historic traditions in evaluating the reasonable understanding of such symbols.
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