The cross was erected in 1934 as a war memorial. In 2004 the US congress passed a law authorizing the transfer of a small piece of federal land surrounding the cross to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. SCOTUS ruled that a federal judge erred when he blocked the transfer the land surrounding the cross to the VFW.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the judge in the case should not have blocked the transfer of the land around the cross from the government to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the group that erected it in 1934 to honor World War I soldiers.
Congress had passed a law in 2004 authorizing the transfer to eliminate constitutional concerns.
The high court, however, did not rule on the constitutionality of the cross. Writing the court's main opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy said the federal judge was wrong when he blocked the transfer.
The ruling was a setback for Frank Buono, the former National Park Service employee who sued in 2001 to remove the cross, which reaches up to 8 feet high and is made out of white metal pipes.
Supreme Court Rules On War Memorial Cross
