[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.''. ____________________