Knights, other groups appeal new ruling on Pledge of Allegiance

Published: 2005-09-19

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Knights of Columbus and other parties in a lawsuit filed over the Pledge of Allegiance have appealed a federal judge's ruling that the pledge cannot be recited in public schools because of its reference to God. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton of Sacramento, Calif., said Sept. 14 that under a previous ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the practice unconstitutional, the current case is legally resolved already. In the previous case, the Supreme Court ruled in June that Dr. Michael Newdow lacked the legal standing to sue his daughter's California school district over the practice of reciting the pledge. The high court declined to decide whether the words "under God" made it unconstitutional to recite the pledge in public schools. The new lawsuit was again filed by Newdow, a physician and an attorney who represented himself before the Supreme Court last March, but this time with the participation of other students who live in four Sacramento-area school districts.

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