One of the most curious arguments liberals have made in relation to the Ground Zero Mosque (GZM) recently is the idea that this is somehow just a local decision. I mean these are the same people who think your daily health is a federal matter, but suddenly they are state’s right supporters? Now of course you could charge the conservatives with hypocrisy by turning the objection around, but, well, national defense is a national issue. And 9-11 was a national event. Conservatives don’t believe that nothing is national, they just believe that a lot less is national than the liberals do.
The left also acts as though there is no national law that bears on the subject. But in fact there is. Its called the Historic Sites Act. And in 16 U.S.C. § 462(d) the statute specifically authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire by purchase, or, if necessary, condemnation historic landmarks.
As noted just today at Patterico’s Pontifications, this is a site where debris from collapse of the towers fell. As such, the Secretary could condemn the land, pay just compensation for it, and make it Federal Property. Then they can instead build a 13 story monument to those who were murdered on September 11, including the innocent Muslims caught in the blast. I would even support an appropriate multi-faith approach, where a Jewish memorial, a Christian Memorial and so on, respecting the faith of every person who died there. Or they could build a museum or, well, whatever the hell they want as long as it is rationally related to the historic nature of the site.
Now the law does have an exception for land owned by churches, because obviously churches are very often historic buildings. But they don’t seem to own about half the land, and they claim they need all of it to make their plan work. Maybe Patterson and Obama could play good cop bad cop on this. Obama threatens to condemn it and Patterson says, “hey, but if you go over here, you can have a full parcel.”
Even failing all that, local historic preservation law might give relief where federal law doesn’t. Of course that would require local officials wishing to intervene. If New York State law gives Albany the chance to intervene, that might be possible. But if it all depends on Mayor Bloomberg, I am dubious. Bloomberg seems to revel in his role as the official scold of the planet on pretty much everything.
And while I am talking about it, maybe the feds should take the whole Ground Zero area, or as much as the law would allow, and take over development themselves. I am not a fan of federal efficiency, but I really have a hard time seeing how it might be slower than this.
Of course I doubt Obama would ever get so aggressive, but do remember it next time the democrats pretend it is a local issue. By federal law, they have the power to intervene.
