". . . under God. . . "

I've noticed that I've been really lawyerey in my blogging lately. I don't know why my profession has been at the forefront of my blogging and I apologize for all of you that sigh when I start talking about the law, but there are just some things too interesting not to write about.


Following this link will take you to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals opinion which finds the "Pledge of Allegiance" to be constitutional. The 9th Circuit can have some pretty screwy rulings, but I actually agree with them on this one.

For those of you that don't want to read the whole 193 page opinion, here's a brief synopsis of the ruling:

We hold that the Pledge of Allegiance does not violate the
Establishment Clause because Congress’ ostensible and predominant
purpose was to inspire patriotism and that the context
of the Pledge—its wording as a whole, the preamble to
the statute, and this nation’s history—demonstrate that it is a
predominantly patriotic exercise. For these reasons, the phrase
“one Nation under God” does not turn this patriotic exercise
into a religious activity.

I would love to go into a long discussion on this, but I spent all my free time reading the opinion so I don't have the time to go through it all right now. Anyway, this is a well written opinion and well worth the time it takes to read it.

PS-If this goes before the Supreme Court it could change, but I actually think the arguments hold water.