Hearing on Pledge Asked of Full Court

Trying to rescue the words “under God” from court assault, the Justice Department is maintaining that a three-judge federal appeals panel failed to heed Supreme Court rulings when it held that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional.

In court documents the Bush administration filed Friday, attorneys asked for a hearing before all 11 judges of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The administration wants the entire appellate court to reconsider the panel’s 2-1 ruling.

The nation’s highest court previously determined that the words “under God” in the pledge are among “many ceremonial references to our religious heritage and do not establish a religious faith,” the department said in legal briefs.

It also asserted that Michael Newdow of suburban Sacramento, who brought the case on behalf of his daughter, did not have the legal standing to do so because he does not have custody of the child.

Newdow sued the Elk Grove Unified School District, claiming that his daughter was injured by being forced to listen to children reciting the pledge. Children cannot be made to say the Pledge of Allegiance in class.

But the government noted that Newdow does not have custody of the child and that the girl’s mother, Sandra Banning, has filed a court motion seeking to intervene in the case.

Banning wants her daughter to be able to recite the pledge, as it stands, as part of her education.

The government stated in the documents that Banning has said neither she nor her daughter believes there is anything wrong with reciting the words “under God” in the pledge.

The ruling by the three-judge appeals panel was roundly criticized by President Bush and members of Congress.

If the ruling is not overturned by the 9th Circuit, the Supreme Court probably will review the case next year, constitutional scholars said.