SCOTUS: Government Hostility to Religion Not OK

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled the Peace Cross located in Bladensburg, Md., honoring 49 men in the county who died in World War I, does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. In The American Legion et al. v. American Humanist Association et al, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor were the only ones to dissent. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the majority opinion, but five justices wrote concurring opinions.

The Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial is a cross-shaped monument that has been sitting on state land. Local Gold Star mothers initiated the memorial to honor 49 Prince George's County men who gave their lives while serving in World War I. In 2014, the plaintiffs, the American Humanist Association, first filed a suit arguing a public monument that includes any aspect of Christianity entangles government and religion, or "the establishment of religion," and is therefore unconstitutional. In 2015, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland disagreed, ruling the memorial was in fact constitutional. Later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit reversed the district court's decision. In that decision, Judge Stephanie Thacker, an Obama appointee, wrote, "Even with the nonreligious elements, the sectarian elements easily overwhelm the secular ones."