[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 33 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S3035]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. LANDRIEU:
  S.J. Res. 7. A joint resolution proposing an amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States relative to the reference to God in 
the Pledge of Allegiance and on United States currency; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I was surprised and disappointed by the 
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' decision not to reconsider its ruling 
in the case of Newdow versus U.S. Congress. To remind my colleagues, in 
the Newdow case, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit held that the 
reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. The 
Bush administration requested that the Ninth Circuit reconsider its 
ruling in the case. At the end of last week, the Ninth Circuit meeting 
en banc refused to reconsider its ruling. The case will likely go to 
the Supreme Court.
  When the court first made its decision in Newdow last year, I 
introduced a proposed constitutional amendment that simply said that 
references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and on our currency did 
not affect an establishment of religion under the first amendment. In 
light of the en banc Ninth Circuit's refusal to reconsider its ruling, 
I am reintroducing my proposed amendment today.
  Mr. President, references to God are found in every one of our 
founding documents from the Declaration of Independence to the 
Constitution, as well as in the Pledge of Allegiance. The phrase ``In 
God We Trust'' appears on all of our currency and on many public 
buildings. Every day, we begin Senate sessions with a prayer and the 
pledge. I firmly believe that the Framers of the Constitution and the 
first amendment did not want to ban all references to God from public 
discourse when they wrote the establishment clause. What they wanted to 
prevent was the establishment of an official national religion and to 
keep the Government from getting intimately involved in the 
organization of one religion over another.
  These references to God are ceremonial. Certainly, they do have 
meaning, but individuals are free to put whatever meaning on the word 
they choose. Indeed, I fully respect and support the rights of people 
not to participate in the pledge or in ceremonial prayer and my 
amendment will not coerce anyone to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in 
public or in school.
  Mr. President, I had hoped that the Ninth Circuit would reconsider 
its earlier holding. It has not. The Supreme Court may have the 
oppoortunity to hear arguments in this case. Should the Supreme Court 
ddcide not to hear the case or to overrule the lower court, then 
Congress should restore the appropriate balanced separation between 
church and state that I believe was the intent of the Framers.
  I urge my colleagues to support this joint resolution.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the joint resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the joint resolution was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                              S.J. Res. 7

       Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
     United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of 
     each House concurring therein), That the following article is 
     proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United 
     States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as 
     part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of 
     three-fourths of the several States within 7 years after the 
     date of its submission by the Congress:

                              ``Article --

       ``Section 1. A reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance 
     or on United States currency shall not be construed as 
     affecting the establishment of religion under the first 
     article of amendment of this Constitution.
       ``Section 2. Congress shall have the power to enforce this 
     article by appropriate legislation.''.

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