From CNN Supreme Court Producer Bill Mears
Washington (CNN) - The Supreme Court has ruled a white cross, erected as a war memorial and placed on national parkland in the California desert, does not violate the constitutional separation of church and state.
The 5-4 majority concluded Congress acted properly when it tried to transfer land around the Mojave Memorial Cross to veterans groups, an effort to eliminate any Establishment Clause violation. A federal appeals panel had blocked that property swap.
At issue before the justices was whether the display fundamentally violates the first ten words of the Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
The Court issued one opinion only today, in Salazar v. Buono (08-472). On a 5-4 vote, the Court reverses the lower court and remands the case. Justice Kennedy writes the plurality opinion, which was accompanied by a number of separate opinions: Chief Justice Roberts concurs; Justice Alito concurs in part and in the judgment; Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, concurs in the judgment. Justice Stevens dissents, joined by Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor, and Justice Breyer dissents alone.
The Court holds that Buono has standing to bring a challenge against a religious symbol on federal land, and that the district court was wrong in barring the government from implementing the land transfer under the cross at issue.
The full text of the opinion is below the jump.
Y me acabo de encontrar esta Op-Ed en el Washington Post sobre el otro tema que anda rondando a este blog: libertad de expresión vs. libertad religiosa y derecho a ofenderse:
Kathleen Parker
Freedom of sketch
The Seattle cartoonist who personified Muhammad need not apologize.
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