COUNTY SEAL ISSUE MAY GO TO TOP COURT LAW FIRM HOPES JUSTICES WILL RULE ON CROSS MATTER.

Byline: TROY ANDERSON

Staff Writer

More than three years after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to remove a tiny cross from the county seal, officials at a national public-interest law firm said Tuesday they are taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the high court decides to hear the case, it could become one of the first to clearly establish what religious symbols will be allowed in the public square.

Robert J. Muise, a trial attorney at the Thomas More Law Center, said some of the Supreme Court justices have expressed interest in hearing the issue on the Constitution's "establishment clause."

Throughout the nation, courts have differed in their interpretation of the clause -- "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" -- in the First Amendment, which also guarantees freedoms of speech, press, peaceable assembly and the right to petition the government.

In some cases, religious symbols on public property have been deemed constitutional, but in many others judges have ordered them taken down.

"This case will give them an opportunity to re-evaluate 'establishment clause' jurisprudence in the context of hostility-to-religion claims," Muise said.

But Peter Eliasberg, a First Amendment attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said he doubts the high court will review this case.

"The county seal now reflects the county's heritage without including a symbol that sends a message to non-Christians that they are not the favored group in the county," Eliasberg said.

The issue arose in June 2004 when the Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to remove the cross after receiving a letter from the ACLU threatening to sue.

Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich said the supervisors voted to remove the cross from the seal based on philosophical arguments, not concerns over how much it might cost the county to fight an ACLU suit.

The county spent an estimated $700,000 to replace the original 1957 seal -- substituting, for the cross, a mission without a cross and the Pomona goddess with an American Indian woman -- on thousands of county buildings, vehicles, employee badges and packages of stationery.

Since then, the county has spent an undisclosed amount fighting a suit filed on behalf of county employee Ernesto Vasquez, who claims the board's decision to remove the cross conveyed an unconstitutional, state-sponsored message of hostility toward Christianity.

"The cross on the (county) seal merely represented the history and heritage of L.A. County; it was not placed on the seal to promote Christianity," said Richard Thomas, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.

"Nevertheless, by their unnecessary removal of the cross, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors chose to offend Christians, rather than fight the ACLU. This case will provide the court with the opportunity to abandon its much-maligned 'establishment clause' jurisprudence in favor of a standard that is consistent with our nation's religious heritage."

David Hernandez, who has spearheaded five unsuccessful signature-gathering efforts to put the matter before voters, said the Supreme Court is more conservative than it was several years ago and is more likely to take up the case.

"The purported reason for not fighting the ACLU in the beginning was the amount of money that would be spent on litigation," Hernandez said. "Now they have done exactly what they didn't want to do. They are spending all this money on litigation, and once we're successful in the Supreme Court, they will have to change all these seals back."

Assistant County Counsel Roger Granbo said he couldn't disclose how much money the county has spent fighting the lawsuit, saying it could give the center an unfair advantage.

"I can tell you ... we intend to oppose the petition, if necessary," Granbo said.

troy.anderson(at)dailynews.com

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