At one point late in the arguments in Salazar v. Buono, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Peter Eliasberg, in challenging the placement of the cross on public land, suggested the cross honored "just Christians." Justice Antonin Scalia, who is Catholic, angrily interjected, "The cross doesn't honor non-Christians who fought in the war?" He added, "I assume it is erected in honor of all of the war dead. The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of the dead."
To which Eliasberg replied, "The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians. I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew."
Scalia's quick retort was, "I don't think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion."
One lawyer in the audience said that when Scalia asserted that the cross was the most common symbol of a resting place, "You could audibly hear people breathing in." Jeffrey Pasek of Cozen O'Connor, who authored a brief against the constitutionality of the cross for the Jewish Social Policy Action Network, added, "A lot of people were surprised at the insensitivity of that comment."
To which Eliasberg replied, "The cross is the most common symbol of the resting place of Christians. I have been in Jewish cemeteries. There is never a cross on a tombstone of a Jew."
Scalia's quick retort was, "I don't think you can leap from that to the conclusion that the only war dead that cross honors are the Christian war dead. I think that's an outrageous conclusion."
One lawyer in the audience said that when Scalia asserted that the cross was the most common symbol of a resting place, "You could audibly hear people breathing in." Jeffrey Pasek of Cozen O'Connor, who authored a brief against the constitutionality of the cross for the Jewish Social Policy Action Network, added, "A lot of people were surprised at the insensitivity of that comment."
I lifted these comments from: http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434373566&rss=newswire
Thank you Judge Scalia!
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