Kendra S. Horn: “Yesterday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the words ``under God'' as recited in…”

“Yesterday, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the words ``under God'' as recited in the Pledge of Allegiance were unconstitutional. The case was brought before the panel of three judges by Michael A. Newdow, a self-described atheist who protested the requirement of the pledge at his second-grader's school in the Elk Grove Unified School District in Sacramento, California. His case had previously been dismissed by the U.S. District Court. Writing for the majority, Judge Alfred T. Goodwin found that Newdow had standing as a parent to ``challenge a practice that interferes with his right to direct the religious education of his daughter.'' Following the precedent established by the Supreme Court in related school prayer cases, the Court ultimately decided that the 1954 Act, which placed the words ``under God'' in the Pledge was unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The ruling will affect nine states in the western United States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. This decision will not be implemented for several months, and an appeal to the Supreme Court will likely be the next step. I urge Attorney General Ashcroft to take steps to begin these proceedings as soon as possible. Congress already is protesting this decision as well.”