Lower Court Holding in American Humanist Association v. Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission
Decision of the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals
In this case we are called upon to decide whether the Establishment Clause is violated when a local government displays and maintains on public property a 40-foot-tall Latin cross, established in memory of soldiers who died in World War I. The district court determined that such government action does not run afoul of the Establishment Clause because the cross has a secular purpose, it neither advances nor inhibits religion, and it does not have the primary effect of endorsing religion. We disagree. The monument here has the primary effect of endorsing religion and excessively entangles the government in religion. The…
