María Elvira Salazar: “I also wanted to take a minute to address an issue concerning a decision that was handed down by a Federal district…”

“I also wanted to take a minute to address an issue concerning a decision that was handed down by a Federal district judge concerning the Pledge of Allegiance--a decision of the district court judge in San Francisco in which he determined that it was unconstitutional for the public schools to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom because of the reference it makes to ``one nation under God.'' He declared that decision to be one that was founded on his view that such a requirement in our public schools was unconstitutional and in violation of the first amendment. I disagree with the finding of the district court judge. Last year, as attorney general for Colorado, I joined many of my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, in making an argument to the U.S. Supreme Court and to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that, in fact, it was constitutional for us to allow our children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and to use the term ``under God'' in that recitation in our schools. I believe the Ninth Circuit decision back in 2002 was wrong, and I believe the district court judge's decision today is also wrong. I will later today write a letter to Attorney General Gonzales asking him to participate in behalf of the United States in the appeal of the Federal district court judge's decision, again to the Ninth Circuit, and hopefully up to the U.S.…”