Press Advisory: Debate on Pledge of Allegiance

Apr 15, 2009

Press Advisory

Background:

• The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 and recited for the first time in public schools that same year.
• In 1951, the Knights of Columbus began including “under God” in the Pledge. The idea gained nationwide popularity, and soon other groups joined the campaign to add the words to the Pledge.
• In 1954, the words “under God” were officially added to the Pledge by statute. President Eisenhower and congressional sponsors of the act cited political philosophy as the reason for adding the words. They wanted to distinguish the view of rights in the United States from that of communist Russia.
• In mid-2002, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco affirmed Michael Newdow’s constitutional challenge to “under God” in the Pledge.
• In mid-2004, the Supreme Court reversed that decision and dismissed Newdows’s case, but on the procedural ground that he did not have custody of his child.
• In early 2005, Newdow filed a similar suit on behalf of three unnamed parents with unmistakable custody of their children.
• Immediately, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty intervened in the lawsuit on behalf of the Knights of Columbus and students and their parents who want to keep “under God” in the Pledge.
• In September 2005, the federal trial judge once again struck down “under God” in the Pledge, and the Becket Fund immediately appealed.
• In December 2007 Becket Fund president Kevin Seamus Hasson argued the case to the Ninth Circuit. A decision is still pending.
• Dr. Newdow has also challenged the pledge in the New Hampshire federal district court; the Becket Fund has also intervened in that litigation.

For more information or to arrange an interview with National Litigation Director, Eric Rassbach, please go to www.becketfund.org or contact Kristina Arriaga at karriaga@becketfund.org or 703.582.8962