Case Study 2: I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag

Case Study 2: I Pledge Allegiance to The Flag
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Case Study 2: I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag
Summary of the Supreme Court Case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow.
Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdon, 542 U.S 1 was a case ruled by the Supreme Court of the United States of America in 2004. The daughter of Michael Newdow attended a public school in California (Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v Newdow, 2004). The teachers in the school always made the students recite the Pledge of Allegiance and being an atheist, Michael Newdow believed that the Pledge is a form of religious indoctrination as it contains certain words as "under God", alongside being a violation of the First Amendment, thereupon, he filed a lawsuit
Miss. Banning, the wife of Mr. Michael Newdow, was not an atheist and the contradiction in the case arose because she too had complete custody for her daughter, meaning she was accustomed her own rights (Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v Newdow, 2004). Therefore, on June 14, 2004, the Supreme Court stated that Michael Newdow was a noncustodial parent and therefore, he had no standing to file a case in the court, on behalf of his daughter. The Supreme Court, in accordance to the decision of the Ninth Circuit, ruled and termed the case as procedural and in no consideration of the previous question of the case
After a new suit of the same nature was filed in a court in California, it led to the decision and ruling of the judge of the court, Lawrence Karlton, in favor of Michael Newdow, and introducing a citation of the same in the Ninth Circuit, in 2002 (Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v Newdow, 2004). The order enjoined the district schools of California from making the students Pledge their Allegiance to "one Nation under God".
Levels of the court through which the case evolved before it reached the Supreme Court.
The case started in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, before elevating to the Supreme Court. The case was filed in March 2000 by Michael Newdow, an atheist, an attorney in California and an emergency medical physician in the state. The case was filed against the Elk Grove Unified School District, where his daughter was enrolled and being told to recite the words "under God" as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance. Michael viewed this daily recitation and the whole Pledge as an offence that interfered and violated his religious beliefs (Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v Newdow, 2004) . Judge Peter Nowisnki, a United States Magistrate rendered the case unconstitutional, making the District Court dismiss it on June 21, 2000, but Newdow appealed.
The case handed over to the Court of Appeal, where the Ninth Circuit issued a total of three opinions to the case. The first decision was given by a panel of three judges who found out that Newdow was legally obligated by the constitution to have a standing, as a legal parent and guardian, to oppose any practice that interfered and violated his right to educate his daughter according to his religious beliefs (Elk Grove Unified School Dist. v Newdow, 2004). On June 26, 2002, the trial was reversed to a two to one vote and a revision where a Lemon,...