Friday, October 07, 2005 | Superior Court Judge Patricia Yim Cowett ruled Friday that Proposition A, which passed by almost 76 percent of the vote in the July 26 special election, is unconstitutional, and is therefore “invalid and unenforceable.”
The decision confirms a 34-page tentative ruling released by Cowett on Sept. 1, and did not come as a surprise to any of the attorneys involved. Attorneys for both sides of the contentious issue, which has seen numerous court hearings over its 16-year history, made their case before Cowett at a hearing Monday.
Ruling on those oral arguments, which built on a mountain of submissions and evidence previously submitted to her court, Cowett did not mince words in her decision.
“Maintenance of this Latin Cross as it is on the property in question, is found to be an unconstitutional preference of religion in violation of Article I, Section 4, of the California Constitution, and the transfer of the memorial with the cross as its centerpiece to the federal government to save the cross as it is, where it is, is an unconstitutional aid to religion in violation of Article XVI, Section 5, of the California Constitution.”
Supporters of the cross said they would appeal.
– WILL CARLESS, Voice Staff Writer