Los Angeles, Calif., Jul 20, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The Thomas More Law Center, a legal organization based in Ann Arbour, vowed yesterday to fight in order to keep the cross in the L.A. county seal, after the county's Board of Supervisors could not muster enough votes to place the cross issue on the November ballot.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors under the threat of a lawsuit by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), voted in early June (3-2) to remove the cross from the county seal.
The County Board affirmed their vote one week later, and then refused to allow the decision to be put on the ballot for LA County citizens to decide for themselves.
The Thomas More Law Center filed a federal lawsuit on June 4th, and Los Angeles County has been ordered to respond by July 28, 2004.
In a statement, the Center informed yesterday that "we are preparing our legal arguments and collecting documents from the County, including the infamous letter from the ACLU demanding that the cross be removed."
"The County has publicly stated that they will take extra time to implement their decision to remove the cross. We are closely monitoring this. Should the County decide to start removing the cross prior to responding to our lawsuit, we will consider seeking a restraining order from the court to stop them.," the Center statement informed on Tuesday.
"Admittedly -the statement explains- it would have been a much easier case to win had the County decided to fight the ACLU’s demand to remove the cross. However, because the County voted to change the seal by removing the cross, we must advance a more difficult legal argument. Namely, that by removing the cross in the face of ACLU threats, Los Angeles County is demonstrating hostility towards Christianity, in violation of the First Amendment."
"Thus, the case will be difficult. Yet, we believe that something must be done, and that the LA. County Board members must understand that Christians are not simply going to allow the cross to be removed without a fight."
"Our lawsuit against Los Angeles County is one of the most important, in part, because of what it represents. Either we allow the ACLU to dictate the future of this country, or we stand and fight for our history and our faith," the statement concludes.