A San Francisco judge has ruled that the “under God,” in the Pledge of Allegiance since 1954, is unconstitutional. Michael Newdow’s first case made it to the Supreme Court last year and was rejected because Newdow did not have custody of his daughter.
I have heard some on television report that the judge yesterday ruled it’s unconstitutional to force students to say the pledge. That’s patently false. It’s been held to be unconstitutional to force students to say the pledge since 1943, when the U.S. Supreme Court decided West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624. A Jehovah’s Witness family filed suit challenging the constitutionality of a mandatory pledge and won at the Supreme Court, more than a decade before “under God” was added.