House votes to protect Pledge

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The House yesterday voted to protect the "under God" phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance from judges who might declare it unconstitutional, the measure being another element of the Republican-pushed values agenda in the lead-up to the fall elections.

Supporters said the Pledge Protection Act, which passed on a 260-167 vote, was necessary because of court decisions such as a 2002 ruling in California from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruled it an unconstitutional "endorsement of religion" to require public-school students to recite the Pledge in its current form. In 1954, Congress added the words "under God" to demonstrate opposition to atheistic communism.

The Pledge Protection Act was backed by 221 Republicans and 39 Democrats, with eight Republicans, 158 Democrats and the chamber's only independent opposed.

"Judges should not be able to rewrite the Pledge," said Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican.

The measure denies federal courts the jurisdiction to rule on interpretation of the Pledge and forbids the Supreme Court from ruling on Pledge appeals. State courts would be free to decide the matter as a state issue.

"We must step in," said Rep. Todd Akin, the Missouri Republican who sponsored the bill. He called it Congress' responsibility to "stand up to the court when they are misusing the Constitution."