California Suupreme Court Refuses To Hear Mt. Soledad Appeal

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court announced that it would not hear an appeal from a November decision by a state appellate court in the long controversy over the Mt. Soledad cross. The decision at issue here had rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to a vote by San Diego residents that authorized the city to donate its interest in the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial to the federal government. WorldNet Daily reports that the court's ruling in Paulson v. Abdelnour also denied a request by the ACLU to depublish the Court of Appeals opinion. Yesterday's San Diego Union-Tribune, reporting on the decision, quotes Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, who said that this decision effectively ends the state court litigation challenging the cross-- which is now owned by the federal government. Federal lawsuits, however, are still ongoing. [Thanks to Richard Watson for the lead.]