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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts: Judy Scott Feldman, 301-340-3938 jsfeldman@capcity.com Mall Watchdogs Ask Supreme Court to Override Law Stripping Judicial Review of WWII Memorial CaseWASHINGTON, May 3, 2002 -- Contending that the lower courts had misread Public Law 107-11, which stripped the courts of the power to review a pending case that challenged the WWII Memorial, a coalition of citizen groups has petitioned the Supreme Court to declare the Law unconstitutional. "Having Congress decide a pending case clearly is a violation of the separation of powers principle so dear to our system of government," said Judy Scott Feldman, Chairman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, the lead group in the suit to overturn PL 107-11. "It is vital now more than ever that Americans understand how our government works and why it is so essential that the system of checks and balances be upheld." The Coalition's case, filed in October 2000, 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. Feldman's group contends that in its haste, Congress wrote a flawed law and that twice, lower courts have ignored the flaws. Hence, the petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court. In brief, the petitioners contend 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(s) is being legally challenged. In addition, PL 107-11, in Section 3, goes a step further in declaring that the pending case and the PL 107-11 cannot ever come under judicial review. This, they argue, Congress cannot do, as it violates Article III of the Constitution. 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 th Interior; National Park Service;; Commission of Fine Arts; National Capital Planning Commission, and American Battle Monuments Commission. |
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