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CNN Live Today

California School Continues Reciting Pledge of Allegiance

Aired June 27, 2002 - 14:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A daily occurrence was a big event on Capitol Hill today, and it's all because of that circuit court ruling declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional in public schools. The pledge is recited as a matter of routine before every session in Congress, and ordinarily the chambers are mostly empty. Well, not today.

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GEORGE W. BUSH, U.S. PRESIDENT: The Department of Homeland Security will be charged with four primary tasks...

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WHITFIELD: Well, we want to go out to the West Coast, California.

And that's where our James Hattori is. He's been following the ruling and, of course, the reaction from that very school district where it all began.

James Hattori now.

JAMES HATTORI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Fredricka.

Well, school officials issued a pledge of their own within the past hour, and that is they will vigorously defend the Pledge of Allegiance, as they recite it every morning here in Elk Grove Unified School District, which is a suburb of Sacramento, California.

In fact, they did recited them as usual, including the words "under God," which are the words that are under contention -- or in contention in this lawsuit.

Nothing will change in terms of what happens here until the appeal's process is played out.

Officials say they have not yet decided whether or not they will seek an appeal before the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco -- the decision yesterday was issued by a three-judge panel -- or whether they will go directly to the Supreme Court for an expedited hearing.

Now the words, according to the superintendent, "under God" are meant to be all-encompassing, not specific to any particular religion. He believes that saying the pledge in class every morning is an important civic lessons, lesson, rather, that brings students, in fact, the whole community together.

Now, they are intending to fight. In fact, they say they will go as far as it -- in fact, they say they will take it as far as it needs to go.

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DAVID GORDON, ELM GROVE SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: As we fight this decision, and we will fight it as far as it takes and as long as it takes, to get the Ninth Circuit reversed.

I think it's also important to understand that there's kind of a teachable moment here for our kids, and that is this: that an individual does get to challenge our laws, and we get, in return, to fight him in court. But the important part of our democracy is that we're fighting in court. We're not fighting on the streets, as goes on in so many countries. And we are very, very blessed to have a country like this, a democracy like this, and this will make us stronger, I believe, in the long run.

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HATTORI: Now, the "him" that the superintendent was referring to is, of course, Michael Newdow, who is the man who brought the lawsuit some two years ago. And he too says he is prepared to fight.

Incidentally, Fredricka, he is an emergency room physician. That's how he earns his living. He's also, though, got a law degree, although he's never practiced publicly except for in his own cases, and he says he will continue to pursue this battle as far as it goes -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much. James Hattori, appreciate it.

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