Law & Courts

New Lawsuit Challenges Pledge of Allegiance

By Caroline Hendrie — January 06, 2005 3 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

The California atheist who argued his own case against the Pledge of Allegiance before the U.S. Supreme Court last year has filed a new lawsuit, this time with eight other plaintiffs, against five school districts, the state of California, and the United States government.

In the suit filed Jan. 3 in U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Michael A. Newdow adds new twists to many of the arguments he marshaled in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, which he lost last June when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against him on procedural grounds. Both cases contend that the daily pledge recited by millions of American schoolchildren has been unconstitutional ever since Congress amended it in 1954 to include the words “under God.”

Dr. Newdow, who is a physician as well as a lawyer, is joined in his new suit by four other parents and four students in California public schools. The inclusion of those plaintiffs is an apparent bid to get around the high court’s holding that he lacked standing to sue because of custody issues involving his daughter, a student in the Elk Grove, Calif., public schools. The district had appealed to the Supreme Court after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, handed down a 2002 ruling in Dr. Newdow’s favor that touched off a political uproar.

“No one—much less impressionable children in the public schools—should ever be forced to choose between conforming to the state-endorsed religious belief or appearing as unpatriotic, political (and religious) ‘outsiders,’” the new suit says.

Removal of ‘Under God’ Sought

Teaming with Dr. Newdow as plaintiffs are a 7th grader in the Elk Grove school system, a 10th grader in the Lincoln Unified School District near Stockton, Calif., a 3rd grader in the Elverta schools in suburban Sacramento, and a kindergartner in the nearby Rio Linda schools, as well as those children’s parents. All those districts, in addition to the Sacramento city school district, where Dr. Newdow owns property, are named as defendants in the suit.

The suit maintains that the three older children have been harassed or ostracized because of their refusal to recite the words “under God” in the pledge. It also argues that the parents’ rights have been violated, in part because their children’s schools are effectively sending the message that their atheistic or agnostic views are inferior.

The lawsuit asks the court to order the state to change its laws “so that the use of the now-sectarian Pledge of Allegiance is forbidden in the public schools,” and to demand that the school districts likewise forbid the current pledge.

“When teachers lead their students in a daily recitation that states in part that we are ‘one nation under God,’ they endorse religious doctrine and inculcate a belief that not only is there a God, but that we are one nation ‘under’ that entity,” the suit says. “This is unconstitutional.”

The suit seeks an order demanding that Congress remove “under God” from the pledge, and a declaration that the current pledge violates the First Amendment’s prohibition of a government establishment of religion and its guarantees of free exercise of religion.

Terence J. Cassidy, a Sacramento lawyer who represented the Elk Grove district in Dr. Newdow’s earlier court fight, suggested that the second suit faced even longer odds than the first one did, following the high court’s ruling last June. While five of the eight participating justices agreed that the case should be dismissed because of Dr. Newdow’s lack of legal standing, three of them said in concurring opinions that they believed that the current pledge was constitutional.

Mr. Cassidy also pointed out that the high court long ago made clear that students cannot be compelled to recite the pledge, in its 1943 ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette.

“We still believe that the plaintiffs will have significant difficulty in overcoming the fact that recitation of the pledge with the words ‘under God’ is voluntary,” Mr. Cassidy said.

Related Tags:

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Unlocking the Full Power of Fall MAP Growth Data
Maximize NWEA MAP Growth data this fall! Join our webinar to discover strategies for driving student growth and improving instruction.
Content provided by Otus
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum How to Teach Digital & Media Literacy in the Age of AI
Join this free event to dig into crucial questions about how to help students build a foundation of digital literacy.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Special Education Webinar
Taking Action: Three Keys to an Effective Multitiered System to Supports
Join renowned intervention experts, Dr. Luis Cruz and Mike Mattos for a webinar on the 3 essential steps to MTSS success.
Content provided by Solution Tree

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Law & Courts The New Title IX Regulation and Legal Battles Over It, Explained
The Biden administration's regulation that interprets Title IX to protect LGBTQ+ students faces multiple legal challenges.
5 min read
Claudia Carranza, of Harlingen, hugs her son, Laur Kaufman, 13, at a rally against House Bill 25, a bill that would ban transgender girls from participating in girls school sports, outside the Capitol in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021.
Claudia Carranza, of Harlingen, Texas, hugs her son, Laur Kaufman, 13, at a rally for transgender rights in Austin on Oct. 6, 2021. The U.S. Department of Education's new Title IX regulation, which adds gender identity and sexual orientation to the definition of sex discrimination, has been challenged in multiple lawsuits and blocked in 26 states and at individual schools in other states.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP
Law & Courts Court Upholds Injunction on Arizona Transgender Sports Ban for Young Athletes
A federal appeals court upholds an injunction against an Arizona law, allowing two transgender girls to compete on female teams.
3 min read
Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, left, a Republican, takes the ceremonial oath of office from Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel, right, as wife Carmen Horne, middle, holds the bible in the public inauguration ceremony at the state Capitol in Phoenix, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.
Arizona schools chief Tom Horne, left, takes the ceremonial oath of office at the state Capitol in Phoenix in January 2023. The Republican is the lead defendant in a lawsuit filed by two transgender girls challenging the Save Women's Sports Act, which bars transgender women and girls from female sports.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
Law & Courts How Moms for Liberty's Legal Strategy Has Upended Title IX Rules for Schools
The grassroots group's tactic is confounding schools across the country trying to keep up with which Title IX rules apply to them.
7 min read
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at the Moms for Liberty annual convention in Washington, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024.
Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump addressed the group's annual convention in Washington on Aug. 30. One popular session was about Moms for Liberty's lawsuit challenging the Biden administration's Title IX regulation.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Leaves Biden's Title IX Rule Fully Blocked in 26 States
The court's action effectively leaves in place broad injunctions blocking the entire regulation in 26 states and at schools in other states.
5 min read
The Supreme Court building is seen on Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington.
The Supreme Court building is seen on Thursday, June 13, 2024, in Washington.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP