Topeka ? Kansas has joined 19 other states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a dispute over crosses along Utah highways honoring state troopers who died while on duty.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says he joined the effort because he wants to protect the right of free expression on public land.

Fourteen crosses have been erected since 1998 by the Utah Highway Patrol Troopers Association, using private funds. Each 12-foot-high cross contains a biography of the trooper who died and the state patrol’s logo.

An atheist group filed suit in 2005 over the crosses. A federal appeals court ruled last year in the group’s favor, concluding the crosses were an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion. Utah then appealed.