God Bless Judges Alfred T. Goodwin and Stephen Reinhardt -- and Michael Newdow, Too
By Jackson Thoreau

July 1. 2002 (APJP) -- Republicans steal the 2000 presidential election right from under the Democrats' noses, and that's fine with a lot of Democrats and Americans. No cause to get riled up and really push for substantial reforms, like abolishing the Electoral College in favor of the president being elected by a direct popular vote, right, Sen. Joe Lieberman? No need to lobby for reversing the unfair Florida law barring ex-felons from voting, right, Sen. Tom Daschle?

But when a federal court rules that forcing public schoolchildren to say the Pledge of Allegiance violates the Constitution's separation of church and state clause, watch out. Politicians, even Democrats like Lieberman and Daschle, will fall over each other to wrap themselves in the flag and pass an immediate resolution denouncing the decision.

"There may have been a more senseless, ridiculous decision issued by a court at some time, but I don't remember it," Lieberman incredibly told the Associated Press while calling for a constitutional amendment on the issue.

Hello, Joe? Do you remember a little court decision called Gore v. Bush? Where was your call for a constitutional amendment to make sure people's right to vote was protected, which the right-wingers on the Supreme Court pointed out was not explicitly protected under our Constitution?

Daschle called the decision "just nuts" and also called for immediate congressional intervention on the matter. Meanwhile, almost two years have passed since the Florida travesty, and little has been done to make sure what occurred there not happen again.

Another Democratic senator, Robert Byrd, branded Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, who had the tough assignment of writing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' majority opinion, an "atheist lawyer." There is nothing in Goodwin's past to suggest he is an atheist. Byrd also issued an implied threat to Goodwin, saying "I hope his name never comes before this body for any promotion, because he will be remembered."

But when 2000 presidential election crooks such as Ted Olson come before the Senate, it's like, what did you do? Did you argue before the Supreme Court that votes in Florida should not be counted? Sure, we will let you be solicitor general. No problem.

Republicans, who have wrapped themselves in the flag so tightly for years that they cut off oxygen and blood flow to their brains, reacted predictably. Some like House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Sen. Trent Lott tied the decision to Democrats' refusal to pass Bush's right-wing nominations for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court, one of the most liberal in the country.

Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, who actually showed more public restraint in his comments than Lieberman, Byrd, and Daschle in simply saying the White House thought the decision was wrong, vowed that the Justice Department would act on the issue. That may cause a few FBI agents to have to stop searching through our library records and making sure public art has fig leaves long enough to drop by some classrooms to make sure students are citing the Pledge.

Judge Goodwin, a University of Oregon-educated Washington state native appointed to the appeals court by Republican Richard Nixon in 1971, and Judge Stephen Reinhardt, a Yale-educated New Yorker appointed by Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1980, are getting way too much heat and undoubtedly receiving death threats by now. Whatever you think of their decision, they deserve credit for having the courage to take a stand on a matter many judges would have let pass. They don't deserve being wrongly called atheists for agreeing that there is something wrong with forcing kids to say a pledge that includes the words "under God."

The case came up when Michael Newdow, a Sacramento, Calif., physician and atheist with a law degree who represented himself, objected to his second-grade daughter being forced to recite the pledge with classmates. A lower federal court initially dismissed the lawsuit. A similar suit he filed in Florida was also dismissed in 1998.

The issue stems from a 1940 ruling made in the midst of more war fever that public school students could be forced to say the pledge. Later decisions said students could refuse to recite the pledge.

The ruling will undoubtedly be overturned by the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, if not the Supreme Court. The decision only applies to Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington, but politicians all over the country are jumping on board to denounce it.

I know this pledge deal is a no-win issue and not one that I would like to consider for long. There are more important issues like election reform, combating terrorism, and ousting Bush-Cheney and many other Republicans.

But as long as the judges had the gumption to deal with the matter, I'll go one farther than the court: I think there is something wrong with forcing kids to say a pledge that has the words "with liberty and justice for all" in an environment of diminishing liberty and justice in this country.

God bless Judges Goodwin and Reinhardt for taking the heat and giving the mainstream media and right-wing politicians and operatives someone to beat up other than Condit, Clinton, Gore, and other Democrats.

And even though he might not appreciate it, God bless Michael Newdow, too. God bless you for standing up for what you think is right, for giving some of us a reason to feel a little more optimistic again, if it's just that the right-wing Nazis in the Bush administration can't silence all of us.

Jackson Thoreau is co-author of We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House. The 110,000-word electronic book can be downloaded at http://www.legitgov.org/we_will_not_get_over_it.html, http://www.cyberread.com/search_result.asp?PRODUCT_ID=CRIN:1881365514 or http://www.booklocker.com/bookpages/whitehouse.html. Thoreau can be emailed at jacksonthor@justice.com.

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