Not gutless, the court must consider whether issue is ripe or the parties have standing in order to proceed with analyzing the merits of the case. (This would also have been true of the 9th circuit, but they were in one of their typical militant races to the Supreme Court).
Many of us recognized this issue when it first arose at the state level. I wish I could find my previous posts on it.
You are right, this has been an issue from the beginning, but of course the 9th circuit would not acknowledge it because they wanted to once again use their courtroom to make a partisan political statement which they knew would be overturned. I'm just glad that Newdow and his backers have wasted so much money.