That long-term lawsuit, challenging the constitutionality of using government funds to restore the California missions, has been dropped:

A hearing had been scheduled for Friday in U.S. District Court here on the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss it. The missions bill was sponsored in the House by Farr, and in the Senate by Sen. Barbara Boxer. It was specifically written to insulate it from a constitutional challenge.

For example, the legislation specified that the grant money would only go for restoration of historic features and only after the Justice Department had certified that there were no constitutional problems. A provision in a 2006 Interior Department spending bill sought by Boxer earmarked $300,000 for the foundation to help restore Mission San Miguel through the separate Save America’s Treasures program.

That program has been used to fund repairs to historic properties like Old North Church in Boston, a church-owned historic landmark where two lanterns hung from the steeple on April 18, 1775, started the Revolutionary War. The constitutionality of that program has not been challenged.

Mellon said that with the San Miguel mission’s registry as a National Historic Landmark, that grant can be released to the foundation, which will match it dollar for dollar to produce $600,000 in restoration funding.

Mellon said the money would go for work in the mission’s main sanctuary where murals painted by American Indians are still largely intact. The murals are the only original interior artwork remaining at the 21 historic missions.