This week we had another milestone in the long-running saga of the Mt. Soledad Cross. (See prior postings 1, 2.) In San Diego, California yesterday, a Superior Court judge issued an order prohibiting the city from transferring the Mt. Soledad Cross property to the federal government, despite voters’ overwhelming approval of the transfer in a July election. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Judge Patricia Yim Cowett held that the transfer would violate California Constitution. The judge’s findings were labeled "Tentative rulings… for the assistance of counsel and the parties in preparing to address the Court in their matter."
This is another in a long series of court decisions on the matter. Here, in a 34-page opinion (full text), the court found that the attempt to justify the cross as a war memorial was largely a pretext. The transfer instead was seen as an attempt to save a religious symbol. The transfer would constitute a preference to Christianity in violation of Art. I, Sec. 4 of the California Constitution, and an aid to religion in violation of Art. XVI, Sec. 5.
