Source: The First Amendment Center

http://www.fac.org/rel_liberty/publiclife/news.aspx?id=13425

On May 27, 2004 The First Amendment Center reported, "The American Civil Liberties Union is demanding the removal of a tiny cross that is among historic symbols on Los Angeles County’s official seal. The seal 'prominently depicts a Latin cross, a sectarian religious symbol that represents the beliefs of one segment of the county’s diverse population' and is an 'impermissible endorsement of Christianity' by the county government, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California said in a letter to county officials this week. 'Under clearly established law, the seal is unconstitutional,' the letter said, warning that refusal to remove the cross in a “reasonable time-frame” would cause the ACLU to seek a court order. The cross was incorporated into the seal to represent the area’s settlement by Spanish missionaries who, in the 1700s, founded two of California’s famous missions in what is now Los Angeles County."