Reply #14: Perhaps using Snopes response as a jump off point might help... [View All]

[WePurrsevere]

http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/pledge.asp

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The more important issues might be what problem the petition seeks to address and what solution it proposes, and on both those counts this petition is rather fuzzy. It states that its objective is to "reinstate Pledge to the Flag in public schools," but the Pledge of Allegiance hasn't really been removed from public schools, nor does the petition outline the means by which by the Pledge should be "restored" if it were indeed in need of restoration. Most likely the issue is confused due to some outdated or erroneous understandings of recent court rulings in this
area.

In 2002, Sacramento attorney Michael Newdow, acting on behalf of his daughter, initiated a legal challenge to the constitutionality of public school-sanctioned recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, maintaining that the inclusion of the phrase "under God" (added to the pledge in 1954) violated the first amendment's prohibition against governmental establishment of religion. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit initially decided in his favor, but in 2004 the Supreme Court ruled that as a non-custodial parent, Mr. Newdow did not have valid legal standing to bring the challenge on behalf of his daughter and dismissed the appellate court's ruling.

Since the Supreme Court did not issue a ruling on the underlying constitutional issue, however, they left open the possibility that someone else (with proper legal standing) could bring a similar suit, and in 2005 two families (represented by Michael Newdow) did so. In September 2005 U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton issued a ruling in their favor, declaring that public school-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance violates schoolchildren's constitutional right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God." However, Judge Karlton's ruling is currently limited to three Sacramento-area school districts.

So, for now the only area in which the Pledge of Allegiance is in need of being "restored" is a handful of public schools in the Sacramento area. Moreover, whether the most recent ruling regarding the Pledge is overturned or expanded is a matter to be decided by federal courts or by Congress and the state legislatures (should someone propose a constitutional amendment to settle the issue). Sending a petition to the President is one way to try to ensure the chief executive is aware of public opinion, but he has little power to resolve the issue being addressed (save indirectly by appointing federal judges or influencing Congressional votes).
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