**DONOTDELETE**
01-12-2003, 05:28 PM
To paraphrase Clint Eastwood, "A court's got to know its limitations." Scalia is right.
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Supreme Court Justice Says Courts Misinterpreting Church-State Separation
By Gina Holland Associated Press Writer (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAQX3JIVAD.html)
Published: Jan 12, 2003
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia complained Sunday that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government. Scalia, speaking at a religious ceremony, said the constitutional wall between church and state has been misinterpreted both by the Supreme Court and lower courts.
As an example, he pointed to an appeals court decision in California that barred students from saying the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase "one nation under God."
That ruling is on hold pending further consideration by the same court, but the Supreme Court could eventually be asked to review the case.
Scalia, the main speaker at an event for Religious Freedom Day, said decisions by his own court gave the judges in the Pledge case "plausible support to reach that decision."
However, the justice said he believes such decisions should be done legislatively, not by courts. If critics of the Pledge of Allegiance persuaded the public it should be changed "then we could eliminate under God from the Pledge of Allegiance, that could be democratically done," said Scalia.
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Scalia used the event to repeat familiar criticisms that the Constitution is being liberally interpreted.
"It is a Constitution that morphs while you look at it like Plasticman," contending that the framers of the Constitution did not intend for God to be stripped from the government.
"That is contrary to our whole tradition, to 'in God we trust' on the coins, to Thanksgiving proclamations, to (Congressional) chaplains, to tax exemption for places of worship, which has always existed in America."
%%%%%%%%%%%%
Supreme Court Justice Says Courts Misinterpreting Church-State Separation
By Gina Holland Associated Press Writer (http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAQX3JIVAD.html)
Published: Jan 12, 2003
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia complained Sunday that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government. Scalia, speaking at a religious ceremony, said the constitutional wall between church and state has been misinterpreted both by the Supreme Court and lower courts.
As an example, he pointed to an appeals court decision in California that barred students from saying the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase "one nation under God."
That ruling is on hold pending further consideration by the same court, but the Supreme Court could eventually be asked to review the case.
Scalia, the main speaker at an event for Religious Freedom Day, said decisions by his own court gave the judges in the Pledge case "plausible support to reach that decision."
However, the justice said he believes such decisions should be done legislatively, not by courts. If critics of the Pledge of Allegiance persuaded the public it should be changed "then we could eliminate under God from the Pledge of Allegiance, that could be democratically done," said Scalia.
* * *
Scalia used the event to repeat familiar criticisms that the Constitution is being liberally interpreted.
"It is a Constitution that morphs while you look at it like Plasticman," contending that the framers of the Constitution did not intend for God to be stripped from the government.
"That is contrary to our whole tradition, to 'in God we trust' on the coins, to Thanksgiving proclamations, to (Congressional) chaplains, to tax exemption for places of worship, which has always existed in America."