NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a 40-foot cross on public land in Maryland that was built to honor fallen soldiers in World War I does not violate the separation between church and state and can remain standing."Just as a Star of David is not suitable to honor Christians who died serving their country, so a cross is not suitable to honor those of other faiths who died defending their nation," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a dissent. "Soldiers of all faiths 'are united by their love of country, but they are not united by the cross.'"The "Peace Cross" was built by the American Legion in 1925 to honor 49 local men who died serving in World War I.
The memorial was designed by mothers of the fallen soldiers to mimic the crosses that mark graves of American cemeteries overseas.In 1961, the cross was moved to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission after a highway was built around it.