WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, ruling on Flag Day, preserved the wording of "one nation, under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance and threw out a lawsuit Monday that had challenged it as a form of state-mandated religious indoctrination.
But the court stopped short of upholding the pledge as constitutional.
In a 5-3 decision, the justices said that because the California father who brought the lawsuit did not have custody of his daughter -- and did not share her view of the pledge -- he was not entitled to speak for her in the courts.
By disposing of the case on procedural grounds, the justices ducked a final ruling on the legality of the pledge and its reference to God. The decision leaves the door open for another parent on the West Coast to bring a similar lawsuit that challenges the reference to God in the pledge. Presumably, the San Francisco-based appellate court that struck down the pledge would stand by its view that the pledge is unconstitutional if it includes the reference to God.
Monday's opinion does not contain many clues as to how the full Supreme Court would resolve the issue if forced to decide it.
The court's announcement came on the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the revised pledge. The original version, written in 1892, spoke of "one nation, indivisible," a reference to the Civil War and the divide between North and South.
At the height of the Cold War in 1954, Congress amended it to refer to "one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." Sponsors of the change said they wanted to show how America differed from the "godless communism" of the Soviet Union.
Two years ago, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco set off a national uproar when it struck down the pledge as unconstitutional. Its decision cited a Supreme Court ruling that barred public schools from invoking God's name at a formal graduation ceremony.
California law requires elementary schools to begin the day with "appropriate patriotic exercises," and most schools comply by reciting the pledge. However, students are not required to say the words. Under a Supreme Court ruling handed down during World War II, the government may not force any person to affirm a particular belief.
Dr. Michael Newdow, an atheist from the Sacramento area, objected to the pledge because teachers were calling on pupils to "put your hand over your heart" and affirm a belief in God, as he put it. He sued on behalf of himself and his daughter, who was enrolled in the Elk Grove Unified School District.
