COUNSEL: CROSS WOULDN'T WIN TEN COMMANDMENTS CASE NO HELP IN COUNTY SEAL FIGHT.Byline: Troy Anderson Staff Writer Despite a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld a Ten Commandments Ten Commandments or Decalogue [Gr.,=ten words], in the Bible, the summary of divine law given by God to Moses on Mt. Sinai. They have a paramount place in the ethical system in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. plaque in Texas, Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County Counsel Raymond Fortner Jr. on Monday released an analysis arguing the decision would not bolster the case for returning the cross to the county seal. Fortner wrote that a court would likely find the cross on the previous seal was intended to represent religion. He noted that when the seal was approved in 1957, transcripts showed county officials wanted the cross to represent the religious life of the community. Last month, Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke asked Fortner to determine whether the high court ruling would help the county oppose an ACLU ACLU: see American Civil Liberties Union. request to remove the cross from the county seal. Burke joined with Supervisors Gloria Molina Gloria Molina is a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and the current chairwoman of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.[1] Molina grew up as one of ten children in the Los Angeles suburb of Pico Rivera, California, U.S. and Zev Yaroslavsky Zev Yaroslavsky (born December 21, 1948) is a Los Angeles County politician. He served on the Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund D. Edelman. last year to remove the cross from the seal in Verb 1. seal in - close with or as if with a tight seal; "This vacuum pack locks in the flavor!" lock in confine - prevent from leaving or from being removed several 3-2 votes, arguing that the county could not beat the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. in court. But Burke felt the Supreme Court ruling in the Texas case might give the county an argument to keep the cross on the seal. Douglas Kmiec, a national constitutional law expert and professor at Pepperdine University, said Fortner's arguments are ``obviously inclined to having this matter go away.'' ``I think the legal opinion is useful for those seeking re-election who want to disguise their decisions as being compelled by the Constitution,'' Kmiec said. Both Molina and Yaroslavsky face re-election next year. ``It's largely a political choice because the Constitution permits appropriate references to religion, when it is not for the purpose of establishing a church, or advancing religion, but merely to emphasize the importance of a cultural feature,'' Kmiec said. Since the ACLU last year threatened to sue unless the county removed the cross from the seal, the county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars replacing the seal on thousands of buildings, vehicles and signs. Attempts to gather enough signatures for a ballot measure to decide whether the cross should return to the seal have failed three times. Troy Anderson, (213) 974-8985 troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com |
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