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For Immediate Release
June, 20 2019, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Tali Israeli or Liz Hayes, 202.466.3234, communications@au.org
Americans United Condemns U.S. Supreme Court's Decision to Allow Bladensburg Cross to Remain on Public Land
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, issued the following statement in response to today's U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the Bladensburg Cross to remain standing on public land in Maryland:
WASHINGTON
Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, issued the following statement in response to today's U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing the Bladensburg Cross to remain standing on public land in Maryland:
"The Supreme Court's misguided decision to allow government to play favorites and prominently display religious symbols as public war memorials dishonors our country's veterans and the fundamental principle of religious freedom they fought and died for. The towering Bladensburg Cross is an inherently Christian symbol that excludes thousands of non-Christian veterans and ignores the tremendous sacrifices they made.
"Just because something is a tradition doesn't make it right. In 2019, the court ought to know better than to permit the government to continue causing harm and violating our constitutional principles just because we've always done it that way.
"The Supreme Court's decision elevates an outdated custom above the religious freedom that our Constitution guarantees to all Americans. We urge Maryland and all government officials to do better by their residents by ensuring that public land is inclusive for all, not just for some."
Americans United led a group of 15 religious and civil-rights organizations in filing a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, American Legion v. American Humanist Association. The organizations had urged the Supreme Court to affirm that the Bladensburg Cross is an unconstitutional religious symbol on public property.
Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.
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Pam Bondi, the former attorney general of Florida, has lobbied for the same firm as Susie Wiles, Trump's chief of staff pick, according to Senate filings. Bondi also reportedly has ties to the lawyer who represented Trump confidant Elon Musk and Tesla in a federal securities fraud case.
Bondi, who helped represent Trump during his first impeachment trial and took part in the effort to reverse the results of the 2020 election, currently serves as chair of the Center for Litigation at the America First Policy Institute, a far-right think tank that's playing a central role in the presidential transition and in crafting Trump's agenda.
Trump's selection of Bondi to lead the Justice Department prompted renewed scrutiny of her record as Florida's top prosecutor, particularly her favorable treatment of big banks and other firms implicated in the foreclosure crisis.
The American Prospect's David Dayen, the author of an acclaimed book on Wall Street foreclosure fraud, noted Friday that Bondi's victory in Florida's 2010 attorney general election was aided in part by donations from Lender Processing Services and other firms that were facing investigations launched by the office of Bondi's predecessor.
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Toomey explained that the committee was immediately "disbanded," a replacement panel will be formed through a new application process, and additional procedures are under consideration regarding confidentiality, oversight, and organizational structure.
ProPublica reported that the office of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp—who appointed Toomey—declined to comment and referred questions to the health department, whose spokesperson also declined to comment, saying that the letter, "speaks for itself."
As the outlet detailed:
Reproductive rights advocates say Georgia's decision to dismiss and restructure its committee also could have a chilling effect on the committee's work, potentially dissuading its members from delving as deeply as they have into the circumstances of pregnant women's deaths if it could be politically sensitive.
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