WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether roadside memorial crosses to honor fallen state highway troopers violated church-state separation, staying out of a dispute over religious symbols on public land.
The justices refused to review a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that the 14 large cross memorials erected along Utah public roads conveyed the message to most passing motorists of government endorsement of Christianity.
The Utah Highway Patrol Association, a private group that organized the placement of the crosses to commemorate troopers killed in the line of duty, and state officials appealed to the Supreme Court.
They said the appeals court used the wrong legal test in deciding whether a display with religious imagery violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on government endorsement of religion. They supported a more lenient test that allows such displays.
The monuments, first erected in 1998, were paid for with private funds and all
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