Trent Lott: “I certainly support this effort. I have no intent at all of objecting. I am very pleased the Senate is going to act so…”

“I certainly support this effort. I have no intent at all of objecting. I am very pleased the Senate is going to act so quickly on this matter. Senator Daschle and I have been talking about it the last few minutes. We have developed what I think is very good language to address this outrageous decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Just as the Supreme Court has recognized that elected officials may invoke God's blessing on their work as we do here every day, and as in the House Chamber they have over the Speaker's chair, 'In God We Trust,' for our children to be allowed to invoke God's blessing on our country in the Pledge of Allegiance is certainly something we want to do. If there is ever a time when we need this additional blessing, perhaps it is now more than ever in our lifetimes. I have seen that and felt that as I have gone around, not only my own State but this country. So I think it is essential the Senate speak immediately in clarification. I hope the Ninth Circuit will have an en banc panel that will reverse this decision; failing that, that the Supreme Court will act on it expeditiously. In our resolved clause, we state that we disapprove of the decision by the Ninth Circuit and that we authorize and instruct the Senate legal counsel to seek to intervene in the case to defend the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.”