LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — Two men have given up their fight to remove crosses from Las Cruces' logo after appellate judges rejected a request to rehear their lawsuit against the city, whose name means "the crosses" in Spanish. Paul Weinbaum said he and co-plaintiff Martin Boyd decided not to pursue further action because of the cost and a U.S. Supreme Court he views as conservative.
Weinbaum, who is Jewish, and Boyd, an atheist, have argued that the crosses on the logo violate the constitutional separation of church and state. The city and the Las Cruces school district use logos that include three crosses. In September, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling that dismissed the men's lawsuit against the city.