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Judge Blocks His Own Absurd Ruling on Pledge of Allegiance
SAN FRANCISCO — Just one day after he stunned the nation by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, a federal appeals court judge on Thursday blocked his own ruling from being enforced.
Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, who authored the 2-1 opinion that the phrase "under God" crossed the line between church and state, stayed his decision — preventing it from taking effect until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decides whether it wants to alter course.
The appeals court can rehear the case with the same three judges, or it can go to a full 11-judge panel. The court has often overturned controversial three-judge opinions. Goodwin's latest action has no immediate impact, since the ruling already was on hold by court rules for 45 days to allow for any court challenges.
Vikram Amar, a Hastings College of the Law scholar who closely follows the appeals court, said the latest ruling means that, for now, Wednesday's opinion finding the pledge unconstitutional "has no legal force or effect."
"They're acknowledging the likelihood that the whole 9th Circuit may take a look at this," Amar said.
Goodwin flabbergasted people across the political spectrum when he declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because the phrase "one nation under God" — inserted by Congress in 1954 — amounts to a government endrosement of religion.
Legal scholars immediately said the ruling would probably be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, if not reversed beforehand by the 9th Circuit.
"I would bet an awful lot on that," said Harvard University scholar Laurence Tribe.
The lawsuit was brought by a California atheist who did not want his second-grade daughter to be forced to listen to the pledge.
Goodwin said leading schoolchildren in a pledge that says the United States is "one nation under God" is as objectionable as asking them to say "we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."
The appeals court can rehear the case with the same three judges, or it can go to a full 11-judge panel. The court has often overturned controversial three-judge opinions. Goodwin's latest action has no immediate impact, since the ruling already was on hold by court rules for 45 days to allow for any court challenges.
Vikram Amar, a Hastings College of the Law scholar who closely follows the appeals court, said the latest ruling means that, for now, Wednesday's opinion finding the pledge unconstitutional "has no legal force or effect."
"They're acknowledging the likelihood that the whole 9th Circuit may take a look at this," Amar said.
Goodwin flabbergasted people across the political spectrum when he declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because the phrase "one nation under God" — inserted by Congress in 1954 — amounts to a government endrosement of religion.
Legal scholars immediately said the ruling would probably be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, if not reversed beforehand by the 9th Circuit.
"I would bet an awful lot on that," said Harvard University scholar Laurence Tribe.
The lawsuit was brought by a California atheist who did not want his second-grade daughter to be forced to listen to the pledge.
Goodwin said leading schoolchildren in a pledge that says the United States is "one nation under God" is as objectionable as asking them to say "we are a nation 'under Jesus,' a nation 'under Vishnu,' a nation 'under Zeus,' or a nation 'under no god,' because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion."
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Second, the "under God" phrase is clearly a violation of separation of Church and State, as are all references to any deity on our money, in any official anthem, and on any government property. It is also unconstitutional to pray in Congress, which they do every day, to have Christmas trees and Christmas celebrations on any government property (such as at San Francisco City Hall, where a Christmas concert is held in the City Hall rotunda and Christmas trees are in many city offices). It is also unconstitutional to allow the cross on Mt. Davidson in San Francisco, and the subterfuge of privatizing public land so as to keep that cross there is simply an illegal attack on a good Church/State ruling.
It is also unconstitutional to have our tax dollars pay for school vouchers to religious schools, despite what the anti-Constitution, pro-election fraud Supreme Court has ruled. This is a means of destroying the public schools which are the schools for the workingclass. In this racist country, the public schools are usually for the non-white workingclass. A society that refuses to educate its young people is a dying society. When the Baby Boomer generation retires, starting in 2005, a huge gap will have to be filled if this country wants to continue to call itself an industrialized society. Instead of doing everything to educate and maintain the health of the workingclass young people, the capitalist class is perpetrating genocide against the workingclass, just like Nazi Germany. Fascism is the naked force of capitalism, without the democratic facade, to which the ruling class resorts in a time of economic crisis.
All pledges of allegiance are "loyalty oaths" and have no place in a democracy. There is certainly nothing true about the current pledge. This country never has, and so long as there is a profit system, never will stand for being "indivisible" and for "liberty and justice for all" (this phrase replaced the earlier "liberty and equality for all" because most white Americans supported segregation and opposed full equality for women at the beginning of the 20th century).
Anyone who works in the legal system knows that this society is not just 50 states with its own laws, but every county also has its own laws, so that we have in effect hundreds of fiefdoms in this country. The name itself makes clear that this is a very divided country as it is an attempt at uniting states, and that attempt is a complete farce when it comes to daily life.
It is long overdue that all pledges of allegiance, loyalty oaths, flags, national anthems and nation states be replaced by one Planet Earth where those of us who create the wealth, the workingclass, are able to share the wealth as equitably as possible with everyone, and there is no profit motive. The earth could be divided in administrative regions for convenience, without all the paraphernalia of nationalism which is a warmongering outlook.
Religion is also a tool of the warmongers and must be replaced by science, which means knowledge, if humanity is to advance.
The flag that we now have was taken almost exactly from the British East India Company, an imperialist venture for sure. See:
http://www.fotw.ca/flags/gb-eic.html
We atheists, socialists, humanists and everyone else with a thinking brain cheer this outstanding court decision. It will not last because we are in a fascist era with a weak labor movement, but labor is now moving, and we will make this court ruling prevail within a generation or less.
Since the fascists have engaged in unbelievable hatemongering on this website and toward the wonderful medical doctor with a law degree who had the intelligence and human decency to bring this lawsuit, I thought I would throw your hate right back in your face. FUCK YOU TO ALL YOU STINKING FASCISTS.
LONG LIVE ATHEISM AND THE CONSTITIONALLY-MANDATED SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE. THREE CHEERS FOR SCIENCE AND SOCIALISM.