EDUCATION officials expressed disappointment over a U.S. court decision declaring the Pledge of Allegiance as unconstitutional.
Board of Education Chairman Herman T. Guerrero said the decision should prompt the U.S. government to look into the federal court system.
“I think the federal court needs to be looked at—they are very dangerous people. To call the pledge unconstitutional is ridiculous,” Guerrero said.
“If you’re going to do that, (you might as well) look at the dollar bill. Since the beginning it has ‘In God We Trust.’ So why hasn’t that been also ruled unconstitutional?” Guerrero said.
He is hoping that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit would reverse its decision.
Education Commissioner Rita H. Inos said the ruling saddened her.
“How sad that some people would want something like that—it is weird,” Inos said.
The court’s ruling was prompted by a case brought by Michael A. Newdow, an atheist who doesn’t want his daughter to recite the pledge, according to the Associated Press.
Newdow called the pledge “a religious idea that certain people don’t agree with.”
In a 2-1 decision, the 9th Circuit said the phrase amounts to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the Constitution’s Establishment Clause which separates the church from the state.
U.S. officials, including President Bush and ranking lawmakers, have strongly criticized the ruling.
