Today in the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 today that a forty foot tall cross on state land in Maryland at a memorial to World War I dead  does NOT violate the First Amendment of the Constitution and need not be taken down.  There were many separate opinions written by the justices.  The best that can be said about the teaching of the case is that it makes clear that just because something is a religious symbol on public land, it does not violate the establishment clause of the Constitution.  Indeed, the majority opinion grants such monuments a presumption that they do not establish a religion if they have been in place for a long time without objection.

The opinions are not very helpful in establishing a test for the future.  The 7-2 vote, however, makes clear that the Supreme Court is not going to accept the stance of the militant anti-religionists that any reference to religion must be kept of public facilities.