oracle
07-01-2002, 08:08 PM
11th Circuit Denied Pledge of Allegiance Claims (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1024078923948)
Richmond Eustis
Fulton County Daily Report (http://www.dailyreportonline.com/)
07-01-2002
Years before he won his fight against the Pledge of Allegiance in the 9th Circuit, Michael A. Newdow lost a similar bid in Florida and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A split three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the words "under God" in the pledge violate the First Amendment's establishment clause prohibiting government endorsement of religion. In his decision, Senior Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote that under the establishment clause, reciting "under God" is equivalent to reciting "under Jesus," "under Vishnu," or "Under no God." Newdow v. U.S. Congress, No 00-16423 (9th Cir. June 26, 2002).
"[T]he school district's practice of teacher-led recitation of the Pledge aims to inculcate in students a respect for the ideals set forth in the Pledge, and thus amounts to state endorsement of those ideals," he wrote. The decision sparked denunciations of the 9th Circuit nationwide and sent elected officials of both major parties scrambling for cameras and microphones to recite the pledge and sing patriotic songs with lyrics mentioning a deity.
The 11th Circuit escaped what might have been a similar fate by affirming the decision by a U.S. District judge in Florida to dismiss Newdow's suit challenging the pledge in Broward County, Fla.
In 1998, Newdow, styling himself "Rev. Dr.," sued President Bill Clinton, Congress, the Broward County School District, and Florida's Congressional delegation to have "under God" removed from the pledge, and to bar the Broward County schools from reciting the pledge until the language was removed. The pledge's language, Newdow claimed, violated both the Free Exercise Clause and the establishment clause of the First Amendment. At the time, Newdow was an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church, which claims that "the true and eternal bonds of righteousness and virtue stem from the reason rather than mythology." That mythology includes "trust in any God."
Newdow said that were he to teach in Broward public schools or enroll his daughter there, they would be subjected to a daily government endorsement of theism. Broward's school board policy specifies that schools should conduct the pledge each morning, though the schools could substitute some other "thought-provoking program planned with discretion."
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Click here to read more (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1024078923948)
Richmond Eustis
Fulton County Daily Report (http://www.dailyreportonline.com/)
07-01-2002
Years before he won his fight against the Pledge of Allegiance in the 9th Circuit, Michael A. Newdow lost a similar bid in Florida and the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A split three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the words "under God" in the pledge violate the First Amendment's establishment clause prohibiting government endorsement of religion. In his decision, Senior Judge Alfred T. Goodwin wrote that under the establishment clause, reciting "under God" is equivalent to reciting "under Jesus," "under Vishnu," or "Under no God." Newdow v. U.S. Congress, No 00-16423 (9th Cir. June 26, 2002).
"[T]he school district's practice of teacher-led recitation of the Pledge aims to inculcate in students a respect for the ideals set forth in the Pledge, and thus amounts to state endorsement of those ideals," he wrote. The decision sparked denunciations of the 9th Circuit nationwide and sent elected officials of both major parties scrambling for cameras and microphones to recite the pledge and sing patriotic songs with lyrics mentioning a deity.
The 11th Circuit escaped what might have been a similar fate by affirming the decision by a U.S. District judge in Florida to dismiss Newdow's suit challenging the pledge in Broward County, Fla.
In 1998, Newdow, styling himself "Rev. Dr.," sued President Bill Clinton, Congress, the Broward County School District, and Florida's Congressional delegation to have "under God" removed from the pledge, and to bar the Broward County schools from reciting the pledge until the language was removed. The pledge's language, Newdow claimed, violated both the Free Exercise Clause and the establishment clause of the First Amendment. At the time, Newdow was an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church, which claims that "the true and eternal bonds of righteousness and virtue stem from the reason rather than mythology." That mythology includes "trust in any God."
Newdow said that were he to teach in Broward public schools or enroll his daughter there, they would be subjected to a daily government endorsement of theism. Broward's school board policy specifies that schools should conduct the pledge each morning, though the schools could substitute some other "thought-provoking program planned with discretion."
...
Click here to read more (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1024078923948)