Fed. Judge Declares "Pledge of Allegiance" Unconstitutional

[John Harrell <johnbharrell@yahoo.com>]

A federal appeals court, The 9th U.S. Circuit Court, ruled today that 
the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion 
and cannot be recited in schools.

In case someone hasn't heard about this yet, I thought I would share this
with everyone here at Vision2020.

Filed June 26, 2002

The actual opinion is here, and is in .pdf format:
http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/ca9/newopinions.nsf/FE05EEE79C2A97B688256BE3007FEE32/$file/0016423.pdf?openelement

Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Newdow argues that the
addition of these words by a 1954 federal statute to the previ-ous
version of the Pledge of Allegiance (which made no reference
to God) and the daily recitation in the classroom of the
Pledge of Allegiance, with the added words included, by his
daughter's public school teacher are violations of the Establishment
Clause of the First Amendment to the United States
Constitution.

Newdow is an atheist whose daughter attends public elementary
school in the Elk Grove Unified School District
("EGUSD") in California. In accordance with state law and a
school district rule, EGUSD teachers begin each school day
by leading their students in a recitation of the Pledge of 
Allegiance ("the Pledge").



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com