The City of San Diego was the target of a lawsuit on May 31, 1989 charging that the presence of the cross violated the California Constitution and the first amendment of the United States Constitution relating to separation of church and state in the United States.
On May 31, 1989, the City of San Diego was at the center of a lawsuit claiming that the city's cross infringed on the California Constitution and the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state provisions.