Thursday, September 29, 2005

House Urges Supreme Court to Approve Pledge

The House of Representatives today approved H. CON. RES. 245, urging the US Supreme Court to rule that recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is permissible in schools. As they point out in the resolution, the US 4th Circuit and 9th Circuit courts have issued contradictory rulings with the 4th approving of the pledge and the 9th ruling against it. The resolution is an opinion submitted to the US Supreme Court, but it has no legal weight.

Support for the resolution passed 383-31 with 8 congressmen responding "present" to the roll and 11 not voting at all. The overwhelming passage in the house shows the tremendous support in Congress for the pledge of allegiance. While voicing their support to the Supreme Court is worthwhile, Congress does have the ability to end the debate once and for all. A constitutional amendment including the full text of the Pledge as it exists today, coupled with verbiage permitting the recitation in all public forums would render any court rulings moot. By definition, what is in the Constitution is constitutional.

As we saw the first time the Pledge was challenged, there is overwhelming support for the Pledge in both the House and Senate. A constitutional amendment should be easy enough to pass. Similarly, there is more than enough support in the state legislatures to ratify such a constitutional amendment. So my advise to congress is just that. Add the Pledge of Allegiance to the US Constitution and end this nonsense once and for all.

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