Judge puts block on own ruling on Pledge of Allegiance

From wire service reports

A federal judge on Thursday blocked his own ruling on the Pledge of Allegiance from taking effect, as criticism of the decision poured in from one end of the political spectrum to the other.

Judge Alfred Goodwin, a senior member of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in California, wrote an opinion published Wednesday that held the pledge is unconstitutional because the phrase "one nation under God" is an official establishment of religion. The decision instructed public schools in the nine Western states covered by the circuit to halt the reciting of the pledge.

Goodwin's new order means the ruling won't take effect while the case is being appealed. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced that Justice Department lawyers will ask the entire 9th Circuit court to reverse the decision, which was reached by two judges on a three-judge panel. "The Justice Department will defend the ability of our nation's children to pledge allegiance to the American flag," Ashcroft said.

Blasts from politicians

Goodwin's action came after a day of flamboyant denunciations on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

A brief response came from the American Civil Liberties Union, which said the decision was "correct" and hastened to add that it had nothing to do with the lawsuit.

From President Bush on down, GOP leaders tried to turn the ruling into a political weapon, but Democrats and liberal interest groups refused to play along. No elected official in Washington from either party, and no prominent figure in state or local government, could be found publicly defending the decision.

Instead, senators and representatives -- including a fair number wearing American flag-patterned ties -- loudly recited the pledge to open the day's business, and by afternoon the Senate unanimously passed a bill to reaffirm the language of the pledge.

Bush used a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Canada to criticize the ruling for the second time. On Wednesday, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the president called the decision "ridiculous." Appearing with Putin, Bush went further, trying to turn the furor to his political advantage. The decision "points up the fact that we need commonsense judges who understand that our rights were derived from God," said Bush, who has been battling with Senate Democrats to force quicker action on his nominees to fill federal court vacancies. "Those are the kind of judges I intend to put on the bench."

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., derided Goodwin as "a liberal." Goodwin, a World War II veteran and former lieutenant colonel in the Army reserves, was appointed to the court in 1971 by President Nixon.

Goodwin was joined in the ruling by Judge Stephen Reinhardt, who was appointed by President Carter in 1979.

Flying flags

But it wasn't clear whether the strategy would work, because Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., were just as strong as the Republicans in their denunciations of the opinion. The rest of the Democratic Party lined up with them, and Democratic web sites featured rippling flags at least as large as ones on Republican sites.

Lawmakers filled both houses Thursday morning to recite the oath, right hands over hearts, some shouting as they reached the phrase "one nation under God."

Later, the House voted 416-3 to express its outrage at decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that the reference to God is unconstitutional.

"The ruling treats any religious reference as inherently evil," the House resolution declared.

One of the three Democrats who opposed the House resolution, Rep. Bobby Scott of Virginia, said that he believes the pledge in schools should be found constitutional, but the issue is best left to the courts.

Reps. Pete Stark and Michael Honda, both of California, cast the other two "no" votes.

Eleven Democrats voted simply "present." They were Reps. Gary Ackerman, New York; Earl Blumenauer, Oregon; Michael Capuano, Massachusetts; Barney Frank, Massachusetts; Luis Gutierrez, Illinois; Alcee Hastings, Florida; Jim McDermott, Washington; Jerrold Nadler, New York; James Oberstar, Minnesota; Nydia Velazquez, New York; and Mel Watt, North Carolina.

The Senate, which approved its own resolution within hours of the court ruling Wednesday in California, voted unanimously Thursday for legislation that would reaffirm both the wording of the Pledge of Allegiance and "In God We Trust" as the nation's motto.