Mountaintop experience: Jesus statue can stay
ADF submitted legal opinion letter to Forest Service, will offer to defend memorial if attacked in court
ADF attorney sound bite: Jon Scruggs
After receiving an outpouring of public comment, the U.S. Forest Service decided Tuesday to renew a special use permit that allows the statue to remain. ADF submitted a legal opinion letter to the agency in November of last year advocating that the Forest Service allow it to stay and explaining the falsehoods in the arguments of atheist groups like FFRF that are demanding its removal.
“An atheist group’s agenda shouldn’t diminish the sacrifice made by America’s veterans,” said ADF Litigation Counsel Jonathan Scruggs. “The Forest Service has done the right thing in renewing the permit for this statue. Its purpose is to honor our fallen heroes, and as our legal opinion to the Forest Service explained, the Constitution clearly allows for such memorials.”
ADF has actively defended similar types of memorials around the country, including the Mount Soledad Veterans’ Memorial in San Diego, the Mojave Cross Veterans’ Memorial in California’s Mojave Desert, and roadside crosses erected to honor fallen state troopers in Utah.
In 1953, World War II veterans joined with a local Knights of Columbus Council to request a permit for the Montana memorial. The U.S. Forest Service granted the permit, and the memorial was erected in 1955 on a 25-foot by 25-foot plot of land on Big Mountain in the Flathead National Forest.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation wrote a letter to the U.S. Forest Service in May of last year demanding removal of the memorial. ADF responded with a legal opinion letter, submitted to the Forest Service during its public comment period, explaining the history and tradition of the memorial and others in the country in light of Supreme Court precedent upholding such memorials.
“In light of this long history and tradition,” the ADF letter explained, “there can be no doubt that the memorial honoring WWII veterans in Flathead National Forest complies with constitutional requirements and with the deeply rooted practices and traditions of this nation.”
ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
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ABOUT Jonathan Scruggs
Jonathan Scruggs serves as senior counsel and vice president of litigation strategy and the Center for Conscience Initiatives with Alliance Defending Freedom. In this role, he identifies new litigation opportunities and develops new strategies for protecting free speech and religious liberty in collaboration with the chief legal counsel and litigation team directors. As the leader for the Center for Conscience Initiatives, Scruggs oversees the litigation team defending the rights of professionals and business owners to live out their faith as well as the litigation efforts to protect equal opportunities for women in athletics. Since joining ADF in 2006, Scruggs has worked on and prevailed in a variety of cases that protect the right of people to freely express their faith in their business, at school, and in the public square. He earned his J.D. at Harvard Law School and is admitted to practice in the states of Arizona and Tennessee. Scruggs is also admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court and multiple federal district and appellate courts.