Veterans Groups Ask U.S Supreme Court to Save Memorials, Hearing Set Day After Veterans Day

On Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2008, the day after the nation honors our military veterans who have served and fought in peace and war, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case which threatens thousands of veterans memorials across the country.

More than 4 million veterans are asking The Supreme Court to reverse the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Pleasant Grove City et al. v. Summum (No. 07-665), which assaults all privately donated public monuments. The veterans groups, in a historic coalition, including The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (“VFW”), the world’s two largest veteran service organizations, along with a number of other leading veterans groups, filed an amicus brief in June specifically defending veterans memorials.

“If the U.S. Supreme Court fails to reverse the 10th Circuit, any city in the nation with a memorial honoring veterans would also have to allow a monument dishonoring them,” said Kelly Shackelford, Esq., chief counsel for Liberty Legal Institute, the Texas-based legal organization representing the veterans groups. “If this law stands, we would be constitutionally required to accept and erect a bust of Ho Chi Minh on the National mall along with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”

Pleasant Grove City et al. v. Summum arose when the religious group Summum sued the City of Pleasant Grove, Utah, for refusing to erect a monument bearing the seven aphorisms of the group in a public park which also displayed a Ten Commandments monument. Summum argued that the city violated its First Amendment freedoms, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, ruling that the presence of any donated monument creates a public forum that then requires the acceptance of any other permanent monument.

“Our veterans memorials serve as unchanging reminders of who we are as a nation and where we have been,” said Dave Rehbein, National Commander of The American Legion. “They force us to remember that our security and prosperity has been won at a great price. I hope the Supreme Court acts to secure and protect these memorials that honor our veterans, past and present, and the tremendous service they have given this nation.”

Amici include The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, The Military Order of the Purple Heart, The Non-Commissioned Officers Association of the USA, Veterans of the Vietnam War & The Veterans Coalition, and American Ex-Prisoners of War.

For more information, visit our website at www.saveourmemorials.org.