WASHINGTON, May 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Representatives from leading military veterans’ organizations will examine what they call recent judicial attacks on veterans’ memorials and preview an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case regarding the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial (Salazar v. Buono) at a National Press Club Newsmakers press conference at 10 a.m. on Thursday, May 21, in the Broadcast Operations Center, Room 480, National Press Building, 529 14th St., N.W.
Speaking along with military veterans will be Henry Sandoz, who has been the memorial’s caretaker since 1984, and members of Liberty Legal Institute, who represent the veterans’ groups in legal briefs filed in the Supreme Court.
The high court’s decision could either save or destroy thousands of veterans’ memorials on public lands, according to the press conference participants.
At issue is the Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial, an eight-foot-tall cross that was erected in 1934 by World War I veterans to honor American dead from all wars. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit to remove the memorial, arguing it violates the Constitution because of its religious symbolism.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against an earlier attempt to exchange one acre of federal land, in which the memorial sits, for five acres of private property elsewhere within the Mojave Desert Preserve. The memorial cross is currently covered by a plywood box. The Supreme Court is expected to hear the case in October.
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