[UPDATED AND CORRECTED] The Associated Press reports today that the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a Virginia law that requires public schools to lead a daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. It rejected a claim by the father of public school children that the pledge violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Instead, the court said, the pledge is a patriotic exercise. The full opinion in Myers v. Loudon County Public Schools is available online.
Plaintiff's claim was unusual. As the District Court described it: "Myers appears to claim that the pledge violates the Establishment Clause because it creates and supports the state sponsored religion of "God and Country." Myers' claim, as it relates to the pledge statute's impermissible state establishment of religion, is unique. Indeed, previous claims brought challenging the constitutionality of the pledge of allegiance as violative of the Establishment Clause focused on Congress' insertion of the phrase "under God" as establishing monotheism as a state sanctioned religion.... In contrast, Myers objects to the Pledge in its entirety, not simply the phrase "under God." 251 F. Supp.2d 1262 (DC EDVa., 2003) [LEXIS link].
