US pledge unconstitutional, says judge

AN atheist seeking to strike the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools has won a major battle in his quest to force the US Supreme Court to take up the issue again.

US District Judge Lawrence Karlton sided with atheist Michael Newdow on Wednesday in ruling that the pledge’s reference to God violates the rights of children in three school districts to be “free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.”

Judge Karlton said he was bound by precedent of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which in 2002 ruled in favour of Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools.

The latest decision could set up another church-state showdown at a time when the Supreme Court is in flux. John Roberts, who would succeed the late William H Rehnquist as chief justice, is undergoing confirmation hearings, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is retiring when a successor is confirmed.

The Supreme Court dismissed the case last year, saying Newdow lacked standing because he did not have custody of his elementary school daughter he sued on behalf of.

Newdow, an attorney and a medical doctor, filed an identical case on behalf of three unnamed parents and their children. Judge Karlton said those families have the right to sue.

Newdow is hoping to get the high court to remove the pledge’s reference to God and restore its pre-1954 wording, “one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

“All it has to do is put the pledge as it was before, and say that we are one nation, indivisible, instead of dividing us on religious basis,” Newdow told The Associated Press.