Hunter, Issa Subpoenaed In Court Fight Over California Cross
A federal court in Washington, D.C., has issued judicial subpoenas to Reps. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) as part of a civil lawsuit challenging the legality of a law enacted last August transferring control of the Mt. Soledad war memorial in San Diego, California, which includes a giant, 29-ft. cross, from state to federal control.
Hunter and Issa have made no public declaration as to whether they would challenge the subpoenas, but a source close to one of the parties to the lawsuit, the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, said the group was told by the House general counsel's office last week that the documents being sought from Hunter and Issa are either irrelevant or privileged under the Speech or Debate Clause, which protects lawmakers from legal actions over official duties. The judicial subpoenas were issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
A federal judge earlier this month refused to allow Hunter or mayor of San Diego to be deposed by the plaintiffs in the case, who include the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, as well as several private citizens.
The JWV and two private citizens have sued the Defense Department, which now controls the memorial, arguing that having a cross on federal property is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which prohibits the establishment of a national religion or preference of one religion over another. The plaintiffs want the cross removed or relocated from the memorial.
"The cross ostensibly stands as a war memorial to all veterans, although it is a symbol of one specific religion and not of the diversity of religions to which our veterans’ community belongs and has belonged since the earliest days of our country," the Jewish War Veterans said in a press release last September.
A long-running legal battle over the cross had led one federal court to rule it should come down, but Hunter, Issa and other lawmakers intervened, and pushed through the transfer.
A federal court in California recently blocked the plaintiffs from deposing Hunter, who introduced the original transfer legislation. Attorneys for the plaintiffs want to know about the lawmakers’ communications with executive-branch agencies over the bill (H.R. 5683 in the 109th Congress), as well as the Thomas More Law Center, a pro-Christian non-profit in Michigan that describes itself as “the sword and shield for people of faith, providing legal representation without charge to defend and protect Christians and their religious beliefs in the public square.”
Whatever happens in this round of legal maneuvers, one thing is clear - it won't end here. There has been an ongoing court fight over the Mt. Soledad cross since 1989, although it still remains exactly the same as when it was first erected in 1954.
* Update: After a comment by a reader, who correctly pointed out that I mistakenly used the word "crucifix" as interchangeable with "cross," I changed this post. I apologize for the error.