United States Ninth Circuit

In a civil rights action alleging defendants, LA county and members of the board of supervisors, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by removing the image of a cross from the county's official seal, dismissal of the action for failure to state a claim is affirmed where: 1) although the claim should not have been dismissed for lack of standing or for mootness; nevertheless 2) the district court did not err in dismissing the claim on the merits as the removal was not an Establishment Clause violation under the Lemon test.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/17/2006
• Decided 05/15/2007
• Published 05/15/2007

Judges

• CLIFTON, Circuit Judge., Before:  HARRY PREGERSON, RONALD M. GOULD, and RICHARD R. CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Robert J. Muise (argued), Edward L. White III, Thomas More Law Center, Ann Arbor, MI, for the appellant., John C. Eastman and Manuel S. Klausner, for amici curiae the Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, Orange, CA, and the Individual Rights Foundation, Los Angeles, CA.


• For Appellees:
  
• Raymond G. Fortner, Jr., County Counsel;  Gary N. Miller, Assistant County Counsel;  Jennifer A.D. Lehman (argued), Deputy County Counsel, Office of the County Counsel, Los Angeles, CA, for the appellees.