Judges Can Do the Right Thing

California: Pledge of Allegiance Is Ruled Constitutional
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
A federal appeals court panel ruled Thursday that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate constitutional rules separating church and state. The opinion, written by Judge Carlos T. Bea, stated that “the phrase ‘one Nation under God’ does not turn this patriotic exercise into a religious activity.” A different three-judge panel from the same court reached the opposite conclusion in 2002, but the United States Supreme Court reversed it in 2004 on technical grounds. In a biting dissent, Judge Stephen R. Reinhardt, who sided with the majority in 2002, wrote that Congress added “under God” to the pledge in 1954 for unconstitutional religious purposes.