Washington ( CNN ) -- Memorial crosses erected along Utah public roads to honor fallen state highway troopers have been found unconstitutional by a federal appeals court . A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the 14 large crosses would be viewed by most passing motorists as `` government 's endorsement of Christianity . '' `` We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the state prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion , '' concluded the Denver , Colorado-based court . The state of Utah and a private trooper association have the option of appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court . A Texas-based group , American Atheists , successfully sued five years ago to have the nonprofit memorial project scrapped , and the crosses removed from public property . At issue was whether the crosses violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution , by having the government endorsing the Christian symbols , even if indirectly . Although the suit went against the memorial project , the crosses were allowed to remain pending appeals in the case . They are still in place . The Utah Highway Patrol Association in 1998 began erecting the monuments , which contain the fallen trooper 's name , rank , and badge number . A picture of the officer and some biographical information is included on a separate plaque placed where the two bars of the cross meet . The state insignia is also included , which the judges in particular raised with constitutional concerns . The service group said their main message was not religious in nature , but among other things , to serve as `` a lasting reminder to UHPA members and Utah highway patrol troopers that a fellow trooper gave his life in service to this state '' and to `` encourage safe conduct on the highways . '' While placed on public land and with the state 's permission , the crosses themselves are privately owned and maintained . The state expressly noted it `` neither approves or disapproves of the memorial marker . '' In rejecting the crosses , the appeals court made several arguments , such as the large size and location of the crosses -- on busy public highways where motorists can not help but notice . Other similar memorial crosses have been erected on public land such as Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen war dead . But the judges noted those markers are generally accessible or visible only to those who expressly choose to visit them , unlike roads where citizens can not help but see them . The Supreme Court has in recent years taken a case-by-case approach to Establishment Clause cases . The justices in 1947 said the government needed to be `` neutral '' but `` not an adversary '' toward religion . The court has upheld legislative chaplaincies , tax exemptions for churches , and the mention of `` God '' on U.S. currency and in oaths of office . At the same time , government-sponsored school prayer is banned , and limits imposed on aid to parochial schools . The court 's record on religious displays on public land is more mixed , with `` context '' a key criteria . The justices last year decided on free-speech grounds a small religious group could not erect a granite monument in a Utah park next to an existing Ten Commandments display , which for the time being was allowed to stay . And this past June , the conservative majority of the court concluded a cross designed as war memorial in lonely stretch of national parkland in the California desert did not violate the constitutional separation of church and state . In 2005 , a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas statehouse grounds was allowed to stand , since it was surrounded by historical markers . But the same day Ten Commandment parchments in two Kentucky county courthouses were ruled unconstitutional , with the high court majority calling them `` a governmental effort substantially to promote religion , not simply an effort primarily to reflect , historically , the secular impact of a religiously inspired document . '' And some nativity scenes and menorahs placed in public parks during December have been allowed to stand , while some were ordered removed . The 10th Circuit rejected arguments from the UHPA that many roads contain crosses or other religious symbols placed by private individuals honoring a dead relative killed in car accidents . `` The mere fact that the cross is a common symbol used in roadside memorials does not mean it is a secular symbol , '' said the panel . `` The massive size of the crosses displayed on Utah 's rights-of-way and public property unmistakably conveys a message of endorsement , proselytization , and aggrandizement of religion that is far different from the more humble spirit of small roadside crosses . '' The judges also disregarded suggestions that since most of the deceased troopers were Mormon , where the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not uses the cross as a religious symbol , the highway memorials were merely symbols of death and did not promote a a particular faith . There was no immediate reaction to the opinion from American Atheists or the UHPA . The case is American Atheists v. Duncan ( 08-4061 ) .
In Utah , 14 large crosses on public roads honor fallen state troopers . An atheists ' group successfully sued to have the crosses removed from public land . A federal appeals court panel agreed in a ruling on Wednesday . The panel said the crosses could be seen as `` government endorsement of Christianity ''