Posted on 08/20/2004 7:06:11 AM PDT by buzzyboop
A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out a state law that required schoolchildren to either recite the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the national anthem daily.
A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the law violated the free-speech rights of students and the right of private schools to "free expressive association."
The Pennsylvania law, which was passed and signed into law in 2002, allowed schools to opt out of the requirement for religious reasons but not for secular reasons. It also permitted students to decline on the basis of religious conviction or personal belief, but required the district to inform the student's parents.
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Sure, don't require that they participate, but have the pledge of allegiance and national anthem anyway.
I don't know why state legislators pass laws that they know are unconstitutional.
And why is this unconstitutional (other than the opinion of 3 un-elected oligarchs)?
More liberal judicial activism. We need to unload those people - and quickly.
I'm not a Pennsylvanian, but I'm glad to see such an overbearing law struck down. Demanding a daily loyalty oath to the government is hostile to conservative principles.
IF the law "required schoolchildren" to recite the pledge or sing the anthem, then the judge was correct.
Maybe because it was required ??
Public schools (government schools) can't coerce speech.
Try telling that to the teacher when he asks you the answer to question #11...
They're pushing to see how far they can go. That's why it's so nice to see it when a court slaps them down.
Why? It gave them a religious and conscientious objector "out." A similar policy is in effect where I teach and has been ruled constitutional over and over. Every morning we all stand, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the general jerk-offs don't say anything, and the rest of the class recites the pledge. Big deal...
Public schools can, ironically, "coerce" attendance.
This ruling is Bravo Uniform Lima Lima Sierra Hotel India Tango.
Yes, and that's ashame.
Free speech means that the individual has the final say of what he or she says. Just as an individual cannot be silenced, so too can they not be compelled to speak against their will.
And aside from Constitutional issues, compelling loyaltly oaths to the state reeks of totalitarianism and is an affront to liberty in general.
You can't force kids to take a pledge.
Exactly!!
, Charles H. (The_r0nin) wrote:
A similar policy is in effect where I teach and has been ruled constitutional over and over.
Every morning we all stand, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the general jerk-offs don't say anything, and the rest of the class recites the pledge. Big deal.
_____________________________________
Judge Thomas agrees, "jerk off" peer pressure is no big deal:
"I conclude that, as a matter of our precedent, the Pledge policy is unconstitutional.
I believe, however, that Lee was wrongly decided. Lee depended on a notion of "coercion" that, as I discuss below, has no basis in law or reason.
The kind of coercion implicated by the Religion Clauses is that accomplished "by force of law and threat of penalty.
Peer pressure, unpleasant as it may be, is not coercion.
But rejection of Lee-style "coercion" does not suffice to settle this case. Although children are not coerced to pledge their allegiance, they are legally coerced to attend school.
Because what is at issue is a state action, the question becomes whether the Pledge policy implicates a religious liberty right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment." ---
--- "The Pledge policy does not expose anyone to the legal coercion associated with an established religion. Further, no other free-exercise rights are at issue. It follows that religious liberty rights are not in question and that the Pledge policy fully comports with the Constitution."
Justice Thomas on Elk Grove v Newdow
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