Christian cross to be permanently dropped from Los Angeles county seal

It appears the Christian cross will permanently stay out of the Los Angeles County seal.

The county's board of supervisors voted 3-2 on Tuesday, June 21, to not file an appeal on a judge's ruling released in April that declares the cross as unconstitutional.

The issue began when the county removed the cross from the seal in 2004 after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened it with a lawsuit, saying the presence of the cross on the seal is unconstitutional and shows favor to Christianity over other religions.

In 2014, the board voted to reinstate the cross. This time, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against them.

In April, U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder ruled that "by singling out the cross for addition to the seal, the county necessarily lends its prestige and approval to a depiction of one's faith's sectarian imagery," Los Angeles Times reported.

The judge's ruling was debated on by the county's board of supervisors, which finally resolved through the vote that it will no longer appeal the judge's decision.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, who wanted to file an appeal, said there was a good chance the county would have won an appeal if they pushed through with it.

"Once again, the ACLU, who I refer to as the Atheist Criminal Liberties Union, was successful in bullying their way to rewrite history," Mr. Antonovich told the Los Angeles Times in another report. "This was a victory for the book burners."

The ACLU said the county board's "ill-conceived and misguided effort" to bring back the cross on the seal and favor the Christian faith over others cost it an estimated $1 million. ACLU said the amount was a "conservative estimate" covering expenses for redesigning the seal and for legal fees.

"Today's action guarantees that the taxpayers will not be forced to suffer further," ACLU said in a statement.