NH Union-Leader - More Join Fight About 'Under God' in Pledge

January 19, 2008
By Chris Dornin
New Hampshire Union Leader, Concord, NH

CONCORD Interveners won permission yesterday to join a federal court case over the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance recited by students and teachers in the Hanover School District, SAU 70 in Hanover and the Dresden District.

Congress added the disputed phrase to the Pledge in 1954 at the request of President Dwight Eisenhower.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation and an unidentified family with three schoolchildren in Hanover and the regional Dresden district filed suit in the fall in U.S. District Court, Concord, to bar educators from engaging in a government establishment of religion.

The Washington-based American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life and pro-family law firm, filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the school districts on behalf of the Committee to Protect "under God," 42 members of the U.S. House, and U.S. Sens. Sam Bromback, James Imhoff and Ted Stevens.

Jay Sekulow, the lead attorney for the interveners, called the lawsuit a troubling attempt to rewrite history and reject one of the founding truths of the country: that personal freedoms come from God. The brief argues that the 1954 language simply echoes sentiments expressed in the Declaration of Independence. The interveners also caution the case could trigger a wave of copycat litigation if the plaintiffs win.

"The Pledge and the phrase 'one Nation, under God' should not pose a constitutional crisis," Sekulow said. "There is ample precedent -- including from the Supreme Court -- that underscores the fact that patriotic exercises with religious references are consistent with the First Amendment. We're hopeful the court will see this suit for what it is: a legally flawed strategy to purge all religious references from American public life."

The Center for Law and Justice is a nonprofit organization with a $30 million annual budget that takes on high-profile cases such as this at no cost to its clients. Its mission is to safeguard religious and other constitutional freedoms.

Attorney John Anthony Simmons of Hampton serves as the in-state legal counsel for the center and said federal Justice Steven McAuliffe received the electronic brief yesterday and granted it within hours.

"It's our position the Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic exercise and not a religious one," he said.