For one, the Commission asserts that when the Latin cross is used in association with World War I, it holds a secular commemorative meaning. AT ISSUE. Adam Liptak, “Supreme Court Allows 40-Foot Peace Cross on State Property,” The New York Times, June 20, 2019.David L. Hudson, Jr. “Does a 40-Foot High Latin Cross Erected to Honor World War I Veterans Violate the Establishment Clause,” Preview of United States Supreme Court Cases,” Feb. 22, 2019.Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, speaks near the 40-foot Maryland Peace Cross dedicated to World War I soldiers on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Bladensburg, Md. The American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit alleging the state's maintenance of the cross with public funds violated the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Erected in 1925, the Peace Cross is placed in the middle of a public highway intersection. Petitioner Maryland–National Capital Park and Planning Commission (the "Commission")—a state entity—acquired ownership of the Peace Cross and its underlying land in 1961.As the Commission argues, its purpose for acquiring the Peace Cross was to assure traffic safety and preserve a historic landmark honoring World War I soldiers. In other words, because compelling nonadherents to participate in a particular religion would prevent them from being able to choose their own religion—the right protected by the Free Exercise Clause—the Association argues that the Establishment Clause standard logically must be something other than coercion.Additionally, the Association submits that the Peace Cross’s donors’ intended to model the memorial after the biblical Cross of Calvary, suggesting its religious purpose. Claiming that the American Legion exaggerates the number of war memorials that will be affected by a ruling in favor of the Association, JWV asserts that the risk of destroying war memorials whose existence is perceived by some groups as hurtful is outweighed by the strong societal interest in ensuring that war memorials are inclusive to and affirming of all veterans.The Commission additionally maintains that, although history and tradition are not dispositive, displays with considerable longevity and a lack of controversy pose no “meaningful threat of religious establishment.” The Commission claims that crosses have not only been used to commemorate sacrifice and military valor for over 200 years, but after World War I, “the cross became the central symbol of wartime sacrifice and loss.” Furthermore, the Commission states that Congress has tried to preserve cross monuments by classifying them as national monuments. The American Humanist Association is challenging the existence of a 40-foot cross on government-owned land, but the Trump administration hopes a … The Association also maintains that a coercion-only standard itself would render the Establishment Clause redundant because practices that coerce individuals to participate in any religion also violate their Free Exercise Clause rights. Dec 17 2018 Id. In American Legion v. American Humanist Association (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a longstanding cross in Bladensburg, Maryland, erected to honor slain World War I servicemen from that area does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.. The memorial stood for almost 90 years without objection until the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit in February 2014 alleging the cross-shaped memorial is unconstitutional and demanding it be demolished, altered, or removed. The Association also argues that the magnitude of the Commission’s funding excessively entangles the government in religion.Prince George County, Maryland is the location of a World War I monument entitled the Peace Cross. (footnote omitted). Likewise, the Association argues that the Peace Cross’s lack of controversy is immaterial because religious minorities have many reasons to “not want to be the face of a challenge to a popular Christian monument.”Does the government-funded display and maintenance of a 40-foot-tall cross-shaped World War I memorial placed at a public highway intersection violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment because of its relation to Christianity?The Association additionally asserts that the Peace Cross would violate the Establishment Clause even if the Court uses the coercion standard because the Peace Cross is extraordinary, standing 40-feet tall and displayed year-round. Yet in 2014 the American Humanist Association sued, arguing that the Peace Cross is a government establishment of religion. Id. First, the Commission contends that if the purpose and objective of a government display are secular when considering the display’s full context—not just the display’s religious context—the display does not violate the Clause. At the base of the Memorial Cross is a bronze plaque listing the names of the 49 fallen heroes. JWV rejects the assertion that a memorial containing Christian symbolism is capable of representing non-Christian veterans. The Commission and American Legion further argue that the Peace Cross has a secular effect because a reasonable observer, fully informed of the history and context of the monument, would conclude that the monument is solely a World War I memorial based on the history of crosses and the war, the inscription on the monument, its use in commemorative events, and the other surrounding secular monuments.