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Mall Watchdogs Ask Supreme Court to Override Law Stripping Judicial Review of WWII Memorial Case
In October 2000, the coalition challenged the legality of the location and design process for the controversial World War II Memorial. The Memorial, originally approved for Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall, was shifted to the Rainbow Pool, a part of the Lincoln Memorial grounds. The challengers contend that the government agencies illegally approved the site change as well as a Memorial design that will block the open space between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument with walls, pillars, and arches. Impatient with the delay, and wary of what the courts might rule, promoters of the WWII Memorial successfully lobbied Congress to enact PL 107-11, which declared the Memorial above the law and not subject to judicial review, in effect deciding the case without it ever having been heard on the merits. President Bush signed the Act on Memorial Day, 2001. "It was exactly one year ago that Congress was writing this legislation to nullify our lawsuit and trample the rights of the people," said Judy Scott Feldman, the coalition chair. "It's bad enough when government violates the law, now Congress is rewriting the Constitution to nullify the system of checks and balances that are the basis of American democracy," Feldman said. In brief, the coalition's brief contends that, while Congress has the right to change the law, and perhaps, under some circumstances, to shield it from the courts, it may not do so when the law is being legally challenged. In addition, PL 107-11, in Section 3, goes a step further in declaring that the pending case and PL 107-11 itself cannot ever come under judicial review. This, they argue, Congress cannot do, as it violates Article III of the Constitution. "As I stand here under the inscription that reads 'Equal Justice Under the Law,' I am confident that we will have our day in Court," George Idelson of the World War II Veterans to Save the Mall said. The petitioners are: National Coalition to Save Our Mall; World War II Veterans to Save the Mall; Committee of 100 On The Federal City, and D.C. Preservation League. Respondents are: Gale Norton, Secretary, U.S. Department of the Interior; National Park Service; Commission of Fine Arts; National Capital Planning Commission, and American Battle Monuments Commission. |
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