JUDGES ON the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals have some 'splainin' to do. Why did they agree to take a case in which the plaintiff had no legal standing to bring one?
Any first-year law student knows that a person cannot file a lawsuit unless he can demonstrate "standing," which basically means he has to show that he was harmed. Michael Newdow, the atheist who filed suit with the charge that the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional, claimed that his daughter was harmed when she was exposed to the Pledge in school.
Last week, the girl's mother, who never married Newdow and has sole custody of the daughter, said the child in question was a Christian, goes to church regularly, doesn't mind reciting the Pledge, and was not harmed in any way by its recitation in school.
Check mate.