Court puts Pledge of Allegiance ruling on hold

? A day after he flabbergasted the nation by declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, a federal appeals court judge put his ruling on hold indefinitely Thursday.

Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, who wrote the 2-1 opinion that said the phrase “under God” violates the separation of church and state, stayed his ruling until fellow members of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decide whether to reconsider the case.

The appeals court can rehear the case with the same three judges, or an 11-judge panel.

Goodwin’s stay Thursday has no immediate impact, since the ruling already was on hold by court rules for 45 days to allow for any challenges.

Vikram Amar, a Hastings College of the Law scholar who closely follows the appeals court, said the latest ruling means that, for now, Wednesday’s opinion finding the pledge unconstitutional “has no legal force or effect.”

“They’re acknowledging the likelihood that the whole 9th Circuit may take a look at this,” Amar said.

Goodwin flabbergasted people across the political spectrum when he declared that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools is unconstitutional because the phrase “one nation under God” – inserted by Congress in 1954 – amounts to a government endrosement of religion.

Legal scholars immediately said the ruling would probably be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, if not reversed beforehand by the 9th Circuit.

“I would bet an awful lot on that,” said Harvard University scholar Laurence Tribe.

The lawsuit was brought by a California atheist who did not want his second-grade daughter to be forced to listen to the pledge.

Goodwin said leading schoolchildren in a pledge that says the United States is “one nation under God” is as objectionable as asking them to say “we are a nation `under Jesus,’ a nation `under Vishnu,’ a nation `under Zeus,’ or a nation `under no god,’ because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.”

President Bush found the ruling “ridiculous,” and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., branded it “just nuts.”

Critics of the decision warned that it calls into question the use of “In God We Trust” on the nation’s currency, the public singing of patriotic songs like “God Bless America,” even the use of the phrase “So help me God” when judges and presidents are sworn into office.