Removal of the Cross

Eugene notes that LA County has decided to remove the cross in response to the ACLU lawsuit, even though he believes LA could have successfully defended the case. Some people are wondering why LA would have agreed to remove the cross in these circumstances. While the costs of defending the lawsuit is one possible explanation, there is another: Some of the LA County Supervisors wanted the cross removed before the lawsuit, but feared an electoral reprisal if they took the action on their own. The ACLU lawsuit gave them an excuse for removing the cross, without having to take responsibility for it.



I don’t know the actual motivations of the LA County supervisors, but it is worth pointing out this possibility, since such lawsuits are sometimes used to fool voters. Government defendants can be defendants in name only. If a prison or government psychiatric hospital is sued on the grounds that the Constitution requires additional funds for its operation, the prison or hospital administrators will often secretly want the plaintiffs to prevail.