SAN DIEGO -- The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the city of San Diego's bid to reconsider a ruling regarding the Mount Soledad cross, clearing the way for an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, officials said Wednesday.

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Soledad Cross Should San Diego Keep The Cross?

The litigation involves the city's 1998 sale of the cross and a chunk of land around it to the highest bidder, the Mount Soledad Memorial Association, for $106,000.

The association has maintained the cross since 1952. The American Civil Liberties Union contended the auction "stacked the deck in favor of bidders who would keep the cross."

In June, a 9th Circuit panel ruled that the sale gave a financial advantage to those who would keep the cross because prospective buyers who didn't want the structure would have to bear the cost of removing it and building a new war memorial.

The city appealed that decision, asking for the case to be reconsidered, reheard, referred to the state Supreme Court or sent back to District Court Judge Gordon Thompson.

An 11-judge panel of the 9th Circuit denied all those options in a ruling issued Oct. 22 and received by the ACLU late Tuesday, according to the ACLU.

City Attorney Casey Gwinn said the city's appeal was a formality to finalize the record in the 9th Circuit. He announced last summer that the city would appeal to the nation's high court.

If the petition for a Supreme Court review is denied, the case will be returned to Thompson, who will have to use "Solomon-like wisdom to sort out what happens next," Gwinn said.

Thompson approved the most recent sale.

The cross has been a legal issue since the first lawsuit was filed against its presence in 1989.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals earned the nation's ire in June when it ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is an unconstitutional "endorsement of religion" because of the addition of the phrase "under God" in 1954 by Congress.