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The Pledge of Allegiance
Over the years, we have seen a disturbing and growing trend in our federal courts to deny the rights of our states and our citizens to acknowledge God openly and freely. These tortured legal decisions distort our constitution, our nation's history and its tradition in an effort to secularize our system of government and divest morality from our rule of law.
I strongly disapprove of the decision handed down by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit which declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional on September 14, 2005 in a second case brought by Mr. Michael Newdow. Mr. Newdow's previous battle against the words "under God" was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court on procedural grounds.
On September 15, 2005, the Senate passed a resolution expressing support for the Pledge of Allegiance and strongly disapproving of the U.S. District Court ruling. The Resolution also states that the Senate authorizes and instructs the Senate Legal Counsel to continue to cooperate fully with the Attorney General in this case in order to vigorously defend the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.
In addition, Senator Jon Kyl introduced S. 1046 the "Pledge Protection Act of 2005," S. 1046 attempts to place limitations on the court's ability to decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of the Pledge of Allegiance or its validity under the Constitution.
I have also sponsored S. 520, the "Constitution Restoration Act," which I first introduced during the 108th Congress. This legislation seeks to limit the jurisdiction of federal courts in certain cases acknowledging God and promotes federalism. It is currently pending before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
Our government and our laws are based on Judeo-Christian values and a recognition of God as our Creator. We simply cannot divest God from our country. Our country has no foundation without a basic recognition that God invests us at birth with basic individual rights that we all enjoy as Americans.
I believe that the Courts have exceeded their power. S. 520 recognizes the rights of the states and the people as embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution to acknowledge God.
I look forward to ushering this legislation through the United State Senate as quickly as possible. We simply cannot allow unelected judges to expunge every acknowledgment of God.
Congressional Research Service Issues Briefs
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is part of the legislative branch of the federal government. CRS, which is a department of the Library of Congress, works exclusively as a nonpartisan analytical, research, and reference arm for Congress.
The following files are in PDF format. In order to view these files, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your PC. You can download the free Reader from the following website: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html
For more information on this issue, please view the following CRS report:
The Constitutionality of Including the Phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
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