The lawsuit over Pensacola's Bayview Park cross has drawn the attention of the Republican nominee for Florida governor.

In a tweet from his gubernatorial campaign account, Ron DeSantis weighed into Pensacola's Bayview Park cross lawsuit, implying the ruling was "judicial activism" despite judges in the case writing their ruling was made "reluctantly."

The tweet from his gubernatorial campaign Twitter account went online right before news broke that DeSantis was resigning from Congress effective immediately.

"A federal court ruled that a cross monument in a Pensacola park must be taken down despite carrying a cultural and historical significance for that community," the tweet said. "Judicial activism is out of control – that's why we are fighting to end it in Florida!"

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A three-judge panel on the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court judge's ruling on Friday that the presence of the cross in the public park violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.

However, two of the judges wrote separate opinions saying they were bound by court precedent that is "wrong," and said a full panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court needed to overturn precedent.

Additionally, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson in his original ruling made after a hearing in Pensacola, called on the Supreme Court to overturn the binding precedent.

"Count me among those who hope the Supreme Court will one day revisit and reconsider its Establishment Clause jurisprudence, but my duty is to enforce the law as it now stands," Vinson wrote in his original ruling.

Vinson, in his order suspending the ruling pending appeal, said his order was inviting the Supreme Court to take up the case.

"However, I concluded my order with an invitation for the Supreme Court to revisit and reconsider its Establishment Clause jurisprudence," Vinson wrote. "Apparently taking the first step to that end, the City has filed a motion to stay my judgment pending an appeal to 'the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and, if necessary, the Supreme Court.'"

The News Journal reached out to the DeSantis campaign for comment, which has not yet responded.

DeSantis's tweet links to the website of his political action committee, Friends of Ron DeSantis, and asks people to provide a name and email address if they agree that the cross should stay in Bayview Park.

The city of Pensacola announced in a press release Friday it would appeal the ruling.

"The city looks forward to being vindicated on appeal — as the majority of the court said it should be," Mayor Ashton Hayward said in the release on Friday.

The American Humanist Association and the Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a lawsuit against the city of Pensacola in 2016 on behalf of four Pensacola residents who wanted the cross to be removed.

On Monday, the American Humanist Association and the Freedom From Religion Foundation issued a press release calling the ruling a "resounding victory" for the separation of church and state.

"Reason and the Constitution have prevailed," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president, in the press release. "The court has affirmed that individuals of minority faiths or no faith at all are full citizens of this country and may not be excluded or proselytized by their government."

The group's leaders called the appeals in the case a waste of taxpayer funds for an "obvious violation" of the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

"It’s reassuring that the court recognized the illegality of an overtly Christian cross conspicuously displayed in Bayview Park," said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association. “As the city of Pensacola complies with the court’s direction, it is our hope that this park becomes an inclusive space for all.”

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com or 850-208-9827.