James Gibson; Validated ‘Under God’ in Pledge

James Gibson, 90, a former New York state appellate judge who wrote the decision validating the use of “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. Gibson was an associate justice of the state Appellate Division in 1964 when he wrote his decision defending the religious reference. The ruling was affirmed by the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider the case. Gibson was elected to the state Supreme Court, a trial-level court, in 1952. He was appointed presiding justice of the Appellate Division in 1964 and was named to the Court of Appeals in 1969. He retired from the bench in 1978 and was in private practice until 1984. On May 29 in Hudson Falls, N.Y.