Judge blocks mandatory Colorado pledge law

Casper Star-Tribune/AP ^ | 8/15/03 | STEVEN K. PAULSON

[DPB101]

Calling it divisive and discriminatory, a federal judge blocked a Colorado law Friday that requires public school students and teachers to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

In issuing a temporary injunction, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock said the law discriminates against teachers by allowing students to opt out with a note from their parents. Teachers have no such option.

The judge also said the law pits students who choose to say the pledge against those who do not, and students against teachers.

''What is instructional about that? Isn't that compelled speech? To mandate every day that one make this pledge whether you believe it or not?'' Babcock asked. ''You can't compel a citizen of the United States to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.''

The injunction will be in effect until a full hearing on the challenge. A date for that hearing was not set.

The pledge has long been part of the routine in many Colorado schools but it was not required for all 750,000 public school students from kindergarten to 12th grade until the law took effect Aug. 6.

The law was challenged less than a week later by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of nine teachers and students from four Denver-area districts.

Anne Rosenblatt, a 14-year-old freshman at Cherry Creek High School and one of those who challenged the law, said she has refused to say the pledge since January.

''I don't believe in pledging my allegiance to an inanimate object,'' she said after the ruling. Her father, Richard, said he respected her rights.

Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for Jefferson County schools, said the injunction would not stop school officials from saying the pledge daily. He said principals were advised even before the court case not to discipline anyone for refusing to say the pledge, regardless of their reasons.

''We do look forward to this litigation,'' Kaufman said. ''It will help clear up any further direction for school districts with respect to the mandate of the state law.''

State Senate President John Andrews, R-Centennial, said the ruling was an insult.

''This is a gross insult to the patriotism of most Coloradans. It's bad jurisprudence. I'm confident it will be overturned on appeal,'' he said.

ACLU attorney Allen Chen told the judge the law posed irreparable harm to the First Amendment rights of students and teachers.

''This is nothing less than ritualistic recitation of words that have much meaning to some people and no meaning to other people,'' he said.

State officials say anyone can choose not to say the pledge under certain circumstances. Assistant Deputy Attorney General Maurice Knaizer said the pledge requirement was just part of a state-mandated curriculum.

''I don't think there's any argument that the education of children is an important state objective,'' he told the judge.

Colorado is one of 33 states that require students to recite the pledge during the school day, according to the Education Commission of the States. Specific rules vary.

Last month, a federal court ruled a Pennsylvania law requiring all students to recite the pledge or sing the national anthem violated students' freedom of speech under the First Amendment.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce this fall whether it will consider another federal court ruling in San Francisco that said regular classroom recitations of the pledge are unconstitutional because of the phrase ''one nation, under God.'' That case began with a lawsuit by an atheist who sued the school district where his daughter was a second-grader.

[cotton]

"In issuing a temporary injunction, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babcock said the law discriminates against teachers by allowing students to opt out with a note from their parents. Teachers have no such option"

Perhaps we could just give Teachers the option to bring a note from their Mommy or Daddy and "opt out" if that is the issue.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. Students who don't want to recite the Pledge can opt out. Sure that makes them unpopular but if you can't stand up for your views without needing to run to a federal judge, you don't have what it takes to be an American. Oh my, we have such thin skins these days that we're afraid of views we find objectionable!

[Mushinronshasan]

My response would depend on what they are ruling. It seems like I am being ruled by both these days. I don't think the judges who are legislating from the bench are doing me any favors, and I don't think elected representatives who make laws that violate my constitutional rights are helping me out either. The only option I have is to vote for those who will legislate fairly, and place people of character in the judiciary who will interpret the law, not make it.

[b9]

Wouldn't it be great if the schools broadcast over their PA systems the Red Skelton version of the Pledge of Allegiance?
At the end, when he invites all to recite it together, I bet
if kids had the choice, they'd be inspired to say it.

Has anyone heard him? I don't have a copy, but it's clear as a bell in my head, so sincere.

[Mushinronshasan]

"The Pledge is being prohibited"

Where did you get that idea? It appears that the state is prohibiting people from refraining to Pledge. (In other words, requiring students to recite the pledge, which is the issue I have a problem with).

[ladylib]

I believe the legislature passed the law last year and some people decided to challenge it. They won.

I'm always amazed when state legislatures pass laws that they know are unconstitutional. I always wonder why they do it, who they are trying to gain favor with. In reality, why should I wonder? Remember George W's old man who was constantly palavering in that wheedling voice of his about "family values" and "prayer in schools"? He knew damn well that "prayer in schools" was a lost cause, but he was a cynical political whore who thought he could curry favor with the "religious right." Sorry, there's no dog in that fight. The courts already decided.
Politicians are whores who are after the vote, and the more the general population wakes up to that fact and holds whore politicians' feet to the fire, the better off they'll be.

[cake_crumb]

"Oh my, we have such thin skins these days that we're afraid of views we find objectionable!"

Exactly. That's the excuse the ACLU has been using for years: one kid might feel unpopular for holding a view different from the majority...so the majority must be banned from expressing it's views.

[jwalsh07]

Liberals hate America to the root of their souls and they don't want schoolkids getting any notion its OK to actually love her.

Right on west coast.

[DPB101]

You have a chance with elected officials. With judges, there is little recourse. The Feds have absolutely no constitutional right to tell Colorado citizens they cannot pass a law requiring the pledge to be recited in public schools. This is judicial tyranny and fiat law.

[goldstategop]

Students are required to learn a lot of stuff in school they don't necessarily like. In your view, the Pledge should be exception to that requirement. Why? Its not like patriotism is a form of religion you can practice in private. Either you love your country or you can leave it. Quite personally, I'd be happy as a clam if every liberal packed their bags and moved to Canada. This country the way it is, is for some reason, just never quite good enough for them. I mean what Americans feel and think and believe doesn't measure up to their exacting standards.

[goldstategop]

Exactly. Why bother having elections if judges decide what laws are good for us. Why have a Republic and go through the motion of having elections and passing laws when some judge decides in his fancy, oh I know better than the elected representatives of people what's good for the people and its my way or the highway.

[ladylib]

Public schools = government schools -- more federal every day by the way -- (No Child Left Behind).

The government (state or federal) -- "government schools" can't coerce speech.

Get over it.

Private schools -- that's another matter. If you want your kid to be forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance -- send him/her to a private school.

[ladylib]

It would be ever so much easier if we just did away with the Constitution of the United States.

Please, let's just rip the damn thing up and do what the people want, okay?

[Mushinronshasan]

Students are required to learn a lot of stuff in school they don't necessarily like. In your view, the Pledge should be exception to that requirement. Why?

I'm afraid you have misinterpreted my view. I didn't say the kids should not learn the pledge. I said the kids and the teachers should not be compelled by the state of Colorado to make a pledge.

Its not like patriotism is a form of religion you can practice in private. Either you love your country or you can leave it. Quite personally, I'd be happy as a clam if every liberal packed their bags and moved to Canada. This country the way it is, is for some reason, just never quite good enough for them. I mean what Americans feel and think and believe doesn't measure up to their exacting standards.

It's not like patriotism is a religion the state can compel it's citizens to accept either. Although you and I may agree that love of country is good, we don't have the authority to make our next door neighbor think in those terms.

[goldstategop]

Its not like we have a Patriotism Police. I think its a bogeyman fear. No one is compelling any one to recite anything at gunpoint. That exists only in the ACLU's imagination...

[Mushinronshasan]

Please, let's just rip the damn thing up and do what the people want, okay?

Isn't that what is being done with regularity these days?

[goldstategop]

Its liberals meddling around in our national heritage. GRRRR...

[ladylib]

Yes, that's exactly what is being done today.

[jwalsh07]

You know, no matter how many times you repeat the big lie, it's still that, the big lie. The Colorado Law acknowledges the 1943 Barnett decision that students can't be coerced.

But pay no mind to that, continue down the path of robed oligarchies ruled by secular humanists whose gospel is moral relativism. Enjoy!

[jwalsh07]

Isn't that what is being done with regularity these days?

Yes, by federal courts enamored of a fourteenth amendment that trumps all, including the tenth and anything else they can think of.