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ourt rules Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) —
|tunning politicians on both the left
nd right, a federal appeals court
the At leclared for the first time Wednesday
th of the; I 1 ia t reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in
ublic schools is unconstitutional
ecause of the words “under God”
serted by Congress in 1954.
The ruling, if allowed to stand, would
ean schoolchildren could no longer
‘ecite the pledge, at least in the nine
festern states covered by the court.
Critics of the decision were flabber-
asted and warned that it calls into
question the use of “In God We Trust”
n the nation’s currency, the public
inging of patriotic songs like “God
Bless America,” even the use of the
hrase “So help me God” when judges
re sworn into office.
In a 2-1 decision, the 9th U.S.
ircuit Court of Appeals said the
hrase “one nation under God”
mounts to a government endorsement
)f religion in violation of the separation
)f church and state.
Leading schoolchildren in a pledge
hat says the United States is “one
ation under God” is as objectionable
s making them say “we are a nation
under Jesus,’ a nation ’under Vishnu,’ a
ation ‘under Zeus,’ or a nation ‘under
no god,’ because none of these profes
sions can be neutral with respect to reli-
ion,” Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin
rote.
In Canada, where President Bush
as taking part in an economic summit,
hite House spokesman Ari Fleischer
[said: “The president’s reaction was that
this ruling is ridiculous.”
“The Supreme Court itself begins
each of its sessions with the phrase
‘God save the United States and this
honorable court,”’ Fleischer said. “The
Declaration of Independence refers to
God or to the Creator four different
times. Congress begins each session of
the Congress each day with a prayer,
and of course our currency says, ‘In
God We Trust.’ The view of the White
House is that this was a wrong decision
and the Department Justice is now eval
uating how to seek redress.”
The ruling was also attacked on
Capitol Hill, with Senate Majority
Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., call-
• ing it "just nuts.”
After the ruling. House members
gathered on the front steps of the
Capitol to recite the Pledge of
Allegiance en masse — the same place
they defiantly sang “God Bless
America” the night of Sept. 11 attacks.
And senators, who were debating a
defense bill, angrily stopped to unani
mously pass a resolution denouncing
the decision of a three-judge panel of
the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco.
The government had argued that the
religious content of “one nation under
God" is minimal. But the appeals court
said that an atheist or a holder of certain
non-Judeo-Christian beliefs could see it
as an endorsement of monotheism.
The 9th Circuit covers Alaska,
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho,
Montana, Nevada, Oregon and
Washington state. Those are the only
states directly affected by the ruling.
The president's
reaction was that this
ruling is ridiculous.
— Ari Flesher
White House spokesman
However, the ruling does not take
effect for several months, to allow fur
ther appeals. The government can ask
the court to reconsider, or take its case
to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Congress inserted “under God” at
the height of the Cold War after a cam
paign by the Knights of Columbus, reli
gious leaders and others who wanted to
distinguish the United States from what
they regarded as godless communism.
The case was brought by Michael A.
Newdow, a Sacramento atheist who
objected because his second-grade
daughter was required to recite the
pledge at the Elk Grove school district.
A federal judge had dismissed his law
suit, which named the school district.
Congress and then-President Clinton.
Newdow, a doctor who holds a law
degree and represented himself, called
the pledge a “religious idea that certain
people don’t agree with.”
The appeals court said that when
President Eisenhower signed the legis
lation inserting “under God” after the
words “one nation,” he declared:
“Millions of our schoolchildren will
daily proclaim in every city and town,
every village and rural schoolhouse, the
dedication of our nation and our people
to the Almighty.”
The appeals court noted that the
U.S. Supreme Court has said students
cannot be compelled to recite the
pledge. But even when the pledge is
voluntary, “the school district is
nonetheless conveying a message of
state endorsement of a religious belief
when it requires public school teachers
to recite, and lead the recitation of, the
current form of the pledge.”
The ruling was issued by Goodwin,
who was appointed by President Nixon,
and Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a
Carter appointee.
In a dissent, Circuit Judge Ferdinand
F. Fernandez, appointed by the first
President Bush, warned that under his
colleagues’ theory of the Constitution,
“we will soon find ourselves prohibited
from using our album of patriotic songs
in many public settings.”
‘“God Bless America’ and
‘America the Beautiful’ will be gone
for sure,” he said, “and while use of
the first and second stanzas of the
‘Star-Spangled Banner’ will still be
permissible, we will be precluded
from straying into the third.”
Fernandez said the same faulty logic
would apply to “In God We Trust” on
the nation’s currency.
Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., was one of
many lawmakers who immediately
reacted in anger and shock to the ruling.
“Our Founding Fathers must be
spinning in their graves. This is the
worst kind of political correctness
run amok,” Bond said. “What’s next?
Will the courts now strip ’so help me
God’ from the pledge taken by new
presidents?’^
Harvard scholar Laurence Tribe pre
dicted the U.S. Supreme Court will cer
tainly reverse the decision unless the
9th Circuit reverses itself. “I would bet
an awful lot on that,” Tribe said.
The 9th Circuit is the nation’s most
overturned appellate court — partly
because it is the largest, but also because
it tends to make liberal, activist opin-
The Pledge of Allegiance
Written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy for a children’s magazine, the
Pledge of Allegiance was first recited in schools to commemorate
the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to America.
The most recent change to
the pledge, the addition of
“under God,” led to its being
declared unconstitutional.
Change: “the flag of the
United States of America”
- June 14, 1923 at the
National Flag Conference,
Washington, D.C.*
f
* "of America" was actually
added the following year.
Add: “under God”
June 1954, by order of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
SOURCES: Associated Press; infoplease.com
AP
ions, and because the cases it hears —
on a range of issues from environmental
laws to property rights to civil rights —
tend to challenge the status quo.
The nation’s high court has never
squarely addressed the issue. Tribe
said. The court has said schools can
require teachers to lead the pledge but
ruled students cannot be punished for
refusing to recite it.
In other school-related religious
cases, the high court has said that schools
cannot post the Ten Commandments in
public school classrooms.
And in March, a federal appeals
court ruled that Ohio’s motto, “With
God, all things are possible,” is consti
tutional and is not an endorsement of
Christianity even though it quotes the
words of Jesus.
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