Recitation of Pledge Found Unconstitutional... Again

[A18]

De facto of what kind?

EDIT: De facto coercion of what kind?

[A18]

So your argument is that we have to dump the pledge entirely?

[A18]

Nonsense. Obviously some people are more timid than others, and there is a casual relationship between that and age.

I do agree that the pledge is constitutional though.

[A18]

Well, it's not legally binding. No enumerated power is necessary just to pass something ceremonial.

Of course, if a state doesn't want to use the pledge, its people should have that right in our federalist system.

[A18]

With respect, the fact that the judge is unelected is irrelevant. The Bill of Rights is there to protect against majority rule.

[A18]

The poster is obviously ignorant of the history of constitutional law, and merely applauds this activist ruling because he likes the result.

I went through the original understanding of the establishment clause in an earlier post:

The First United States Congress began its legislative sessions with a prayer. The same week that Congress submitted the Establishment Clause as part of the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification, it enacted legislation providing for paid chaplains in the House and Senate.

The day after the First Amendment was proposed, Congress requested the president to proclaim "a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed, by acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the many and signal favors of Almighty God."

President Washington then offered the first Thanksgiving Proclamation, devoting November 26, 1789 on behalf of the American people "to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that is, that was, or that will be."

The Supreme Court under John Marshall opened its sessions with the prayer, "God save the United States and this Honorable Court."