2/16/2024 – The Peace Cross in Bladensburg stretches the boundaries of “publicly accessible” due to its location in what is basically a highway intersection. Commissioned by the American Legion and constructed almost 100 years ago to commemorate fallen soldiers in World War 1, the cross subsequently fell under the purview of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. It was the target of a lawsuit filed by the American Humanist Association who believed that state maintenance of a cross was a violation of the separation between church and state. In 2019, the Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeals decision, allowing the cross to remain on public land, by the reason that it does not violate the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
