In Bladensburg Maryland, the American Legion Veteran Organization erected the Bladensburg WWI Veterans Memorial in 1925. The memorial is referred to as the “Peace Cross,” and it honors 49 men from Bladensburg who gave their lives in WWI.

It has stood for more than 90 years. In 2014, the American Humanist Association filed a lawsuit claiming the cross-shaped memorial was unconstitutional because the public ownership and maintenance of the memorial violated the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

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First Liberty, a law firm that specializes in religious liberty cases, intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of The American Legion to defend the Bladensburg Memorial Cross. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the Memorial, and now the case is before the Supreme Court….

Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty said, “If this gravestone is bulldozed to the ground, it’s only a matter of time before the wrecking ball turns on Arlington National Cemetery and the hundreds of memorials like this one across the country.”

The central questions in this case: Is a 93-year-old memorial unconstitutional because it is shaped like a cross, and does the public maintenance of a cross-shaped memorial violate the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment?

Oral arguments for this case will be heard on February 27, 2019.

Listen to IFA President Dave Kubal’s interview with attorney Kelly Shackelford, who is arguing one of these important cases in the Supreme Court this week. Don’t miss his insider prayer points:

Case 2: Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck

Content platform companies should closely watch for the decision on this case, as it could substantially limit their power to control the content on their platforms. The Manhattan Neighborhood Network, located in New York City, suspended two of their employees, Melendez and Halleck, from using the network’s services or facilities after the employees incited violence against other employees. Melendez and Halleck then filed a lawsuit against Manhattan Neighborhood Network claiming the company violated their First Amendment rights to free speech.

The First Amendment does not apply to private institutions and only applies to state actors….

The central question in this case: Are private operators of public access channels state actors subject to constitutional liability?

Oral arguments for this case will be heard on February 25, 2019.

Case 3: United States v. Haymond

In 2010, Andre Ralph Haymond was convicted of possessing child pornography and sentenced to 38 months in jail and ten years of supervised release. While on supervised release probation officers found him in possession of child pornography and alleged he had violated five conditions of his supervised release. According to U.S. Law, 18 U.S.C.§ 3583(k), a mandatory minimum sentence of five years is required for possession of child pornography for anyone on supervised release from a crime involving a minor. Convicted felon Haymond appealed. He argued there was insufficient evidence to prove he had knowingly possessed the child pornography and claimed it was a violation of the Constitution to deny him due process….

The central question in this case: Did the court of appeals err in holding “unconstitutional and unenforceable” the portions of 18 U.S.C. 3583(k) that required the district court to revoke the respondent’s ten-year term of supervised release, and to impose five years of reimprisonment?

Oral arguments for this case will be heard on February 26, 2019. (Excerpts from MyFaithVotes News)

The Informer February 26, 2019 PDF Plain Text Version