U.S. Senate Votes to Acquire Site of Controversial Cross in San Diego

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to have the federal government acquire the land beneath a controversial cross in San Diego in an effort to circumvent a court order that the concrete structure be removed.

After a 17-year legal battle, a federal judge in May ruled that the cross, which perches above Interstate 5 on city-owned land, must come down this month because it is a religious symbol and violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

But backers say the cross is a monument to veterans, not a religious symbol. After the ruling, San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) appealed to President Bush to turn the land into a federal memorial.

The legislation was moved through the Senate by the state’s two Democratic senators: Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

Supporters of the cross say they hope transferring ownership of the land will boost their legal position because the separation of church and state is more strictly defined in state law than it is in the U.S. Constitution.

But James McElroy, the lawyer for the San Diego atheist and Vietnam veteran who has fought to have the cross removed, said he thinks the gambit will fail.