Source: The Boston Globe
Wire Service: AP
On September 15, 2005 the Associated Press reported, "A federal judge declared the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools unconstitutional yesterday, a decision that could potentially put the divisive issue back before the US Supreme Court. The case was brought by the atheist whose previous battle against the words 'under God' the Supreme Court rejected last year on procedural grounds. US District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation 'under God' violates schoolchildren's right to be 'free from a coercive requirement to affirm God.' Karlton said he was bound by the precedent of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which in 2002 ruled in favor of Michael Newdow of Sacramento that the pledge is unconstitutional when recited in public schools."