Federal appeals court finds California memorial cross unconstitutional

[JURIST] A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] unanimously Tuesday that California’s Mount Soledad cross, a 43-foot cross erected as a Korean War veterans’ memorial, is unconstitutional under the First Amendment [text]. Justice M. Margaret McKeown declared, "[t]he use of such a distinctively Christian symbol to honor all veterans sends a strong message of endorsement and exclusion. It suggests that the government is so connected to a particular religion…