RBG Reads Out Loud Her Dissent To Ruling Allowing 40-Foot Cross On Public Land

Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg poses for the official photo at the Supreme Court in Washington, DC on November 30, 2018. Image by MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images

By Josefin Dolsten June 21, 2019

(JTA) — The Supreme Court will allow a 40-foot memorial cross to remain standing on public land in Maryland.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was not happy with the ruling Thursday and read her dissent out loud to emphasize her opinion.

“By maintaining the Peace Cross on a public highway, the Commission elevates Christianity over other faiths and religion over nonreligion,” the Jewish jurist said.

Seven of the court’s nine justices voted to allow the Bladensburg Cross, a memorial to soldiers killed in World War I, to stand. Ginsburg was joined in her dissent by Sonia Sotomayor.

Justice Samuel Alito Jr., who wrote the main opinion, said the cross had taken on meanings outside of just the Christian faith.

“For some, that monument is a symbolic resting place for ancestors who never returned home,” he wrote. “For others, it is a place for the community to gather and honor all veterans and their sacrifices for our Nation. For others still, it is a historical landmark.”

The ruling drew criticism from the Anti-Defamation League.

“This decision unfortunately undermines well-established precedents safeguarding the separation of church and state,” the group’s national director, Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a statement.

The Interfaith Alliance, led by president Rabbi Jack Moline, also condemned the decision.

“The Bladensburg Cross is neither truly representative of the diverse personal faith, philosophy or conscience of the local servicemembers for whom it was built to honor, nor do we see this ruling as honoring the powerful meaning of the Latin cross for devoted Christians,” Moline said in a statement.

Josefin Dolsten is a New York-based writer who has reported for the Forward, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Times of Israel and other Jewish publications. She currently works as an account director at Fenton Communications, supporting organizations that work to advance racial justice, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and more. Dolsten earned her B.A. in government from Cornell University and her M.A. in comparative religion and Jewish studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO