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San Diego • The American Civil Liberties Union says a veterans' organization should have no say in legal talks over how to modify a war memorial cross that is located on federal land.
The cross has been deemed to be an unconstitutional mixing of government and religion.
A federal judge in San Diego will hear the arguments at a hearing Friday on whether the Mount Soledad Memorial Association should participate in negotiations between the ACLU and the Department of Justice.
David Loy of the ACLU in San Diego says the veterans' organization maintains the memorial but does not own it and therefore has no right to decide how the property should be reconfigured.
The veterans association says it erected the 29-foot cross in 1954 and should be involved in its modification.
A federal court ordered the cross modified.