Talent seeks to protect Pledge of Allegiance from federal judges

U.S. Sen. Jim Talent says no one should be allowed to challenge the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance in federal court.

The Missouri senator is sponsoring legislation that would bar federal judges from taking up that issue.

"If you can't stand up for the Pledge of Allegiance and the flag, I don't know what you can stand up for," Talent said Wednesday during a stop at the Cape Girardeau VFW post at 1049 N. Kingshighway.

Talent spoke before a crowd of about 20 supporters, mostly veterans.

The senator said he's responding to federal court rulings in California in 2002 and again last year that it was unconstitutional to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

The case was brought by the same atheist whose previous battle against the words "under God" was rejected in 2004 by the U.S. Supreme Court on procedural grounds.

Last September, U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton ruled that the pledge's reference to one nation "under God" violated school children's right to be "free from a coercive requirement to affirm God."

Talent said that decision once again puts the pledge in jeopardy. "I just don't think we should stand for this anymore," he said. "I just think it is wrong."

Talent said the pledge of allegiance is one of the nation's unifying symbols and expresses the belief in "liberty and justice for all."

He said he likely will try to get the Senate to pass his legislation as an amendment to another bill. The House last year passed a similar measure.

Baptist minister Frank Bellamy wrote the original pledge in 1892.

Through the efforts of the American Legion and the Daughters of the American Revolution, the pledge was revised slightly in the 1920s.

In 1954, Congress added the words "under God" after a campaign by the Knights of Columbus.

Bill Humphries, commander of the Cape Girardeau VFW post, said the change was made during the height of the Cold War when the nation was battling the "godless" Soviet Union.

Humphries supports Talent's move to protect the right to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools.

America's founding fathers, he said, were religious men. "We have always been a nation under God," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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