Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1717_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 8

Cite as:  588 U. S. ____ (2019) 

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington,  D. C.  20543,  of  any  typographical  or  other  formal  errors,  in  order 
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

_________________ 

Nos. 17–1717 and 18–18 
_________________ 

17–1717 

THE AMERICAN LEGION, ET AL., PETITIONERS 
v. 
AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION, ET AL.; AND 

MARYLAND-NATIONAL CAPITAL PARK AND 
PLANNING COMMISSION, PETITIONER 
v. 
AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION, ET AL. 

18–18 

ON WRITS OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT 

[June 20, 2019]

  JUSTICE  ALITO  announced  the  judgment  of  the  Court 
and  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court  with  respect  to 
Parts  I,  II–B,  II–C,  III,  and  IV,  and  an  opinion  with  re-
spect  to  Parts  II–A  and  II–D,  in  which  THE  CHIEF 
JUSTICE, JUSTICE BREYER, and JUSTICE KAVANAUGH join. 
  Since  1925,  the  Bladensburg  Peace  Cross  (Cross)  has 
stood as a tribute to 49 area soldiers who gave their lives 
in the First World War.  Eighty-nine years after the dedi-
cation  of  the  Cross,  respondents  filed  this  lawsuit,  claim-
ing that they are offended by the sight of the memorial on 
public  land  and  that  its  presence  there  and  the  expendi-
ture  of  public  funds  to  maintain  it  violate  the  Establish-
ment  Clause  of  the  First  Amendment.    To  remedy  this 
violation, they asked a federal court to order the relocation 
or  demolition  of  the  Cross  or  at  least  the  removal  of  its