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American Morning

New Twist in Legal Fight to Remove Words 'Under God' From Pledge

Aired August 08, 2002 - 09:15   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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: There is a new twist in the legal fight to remove the words "under God" from the pledge of allegiance. The mother of the 8-year-old California girl at the heart of the lawsuit wants her daughter's name removed from the proceedings. She claims the girl's father, who filed the initial suit, is using the child to pursue his own atheist agenda.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANDRA BANNING, MOTHER OF GIRL IN PLEDGE CASE: From a mother's perspective, it's -- she provided him with an excellent vehicle to gain sympathy with the court. And in that respect, I do believe that she's being used by her father.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Michael Newdow, you might remember, alleges in his suit that he does not want his daughter to say the words "under God" in school.

From Sacramento -- we did ask the mother to join us this morning; she declined. But Michael Newdow is back with us.

Good morning, Michael. Good to see you again.

DR. MICHAEL NEWDOW, PLEDGE PLAINTIFF: Good morning.

HEMMER: Your ex-wife accuses you -- well, you were never married essentially, but the mother of your daughter accuses you of using your daughter. True? Point there?

NEWDOW: No. I mean I named my daughter -- I didn't name my daughter. I said I have a daughter when I filed the lawsuit. That's true. I think it would be very interesting to think about who is using this child. We had the situation is that this child unnamed party to this lawsuit.

HEMMER: That's what we call a rather unfortunate incident. Michael Newdow is with us this morning, but apparently we had a bit of satellite trouble. If it comes back, let me know. If not, we'll push on.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: So what is it contention, because his daughter was never named in the suit that that is an absolutely false charge for the mother of his child to bring about.

HEMMER: Good question. He's back with us.

ZAHN: Oh, he is. Well, ask the doctor himself.

HEMMER: No, I guess we're working on it. We'll get the gremlins worked out.

Here's the case, the mother of the daughter essentially came out and said I want my daughter taken out of this suit. You're using her for your gain, your own atheistic gains, to eventually take this case to the Supreme Court. He's saying, no, that's not the case.

My question to him, if he get him back, is there essentially conjoined, if I can borrow a phrase from another story, his daughter. Without his daughter, he would never have this case. So we'll work on the satellite.

ZAHN: Oh, satellite gods please help us.

HEMMER: It's Thursday. We get another shot tomorrow. Let's get to a break here.

ZAHN: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Dr. Michael Newdow is back with us again from Sacramento. Sorry about that, Michael. We cut you off there.

You're -- the mother of your daughter accuses you of using your daughter. Does she have a point there?

NEWDOW: I think the point is completely backward. She was completely anonymous. She's an unnamed party to the lawsuit. Anytime someone asked me about her, I specifically said, this has nothing to do with her; it's my lawsuit. Now weeks later, after everything has died down, no one is even thinking about her. Suddenly, they call up all the network studios. They say, hey, let's go broadcast her name so that we can tell people how concerned we are about her.

HEMMER: Hang on one second here, when this story first broke, you were talking with me actually, and I asked you about your daughter, about her future life and as you go through school, and you said, I want to keep her out of it. That's impossible to do in a case like this.

NEWDOW: She has different last name. She was completely anonymous. No one knew about her until all of a sudden we tell everybody her name. They go and file a brief.

HEMMER: But the only reason you can even bring this case is because what you say your daughter was subjected to in school. Therefore...

NEWDOW: That's not direct. That's one of the reasons. HEMMER: ... you guys are conjoined in this case. It's a tough things to separate, right?

NEWDOW: She's unnamed. All I said, I have a daughter, I have a right to send my child to public school. Who do you think is behind this right now? this is not this woman. She's being used as a puppet. This is the religious right, who says, oh, holy smokes, we're about to have the Pledge of Allegiance become constitutional again; we're worried, we want to keep our God in our Pledge of Allegiance, and this is how they're going about it. This has nothing to do this woman, or protecting the child.

HEMMER: What's your proof to back that up?

NEWDOW: This woman was flown by private jet round trip from the West Coast to Washington D.C., stayed in the Four Seasons hotel in suite, gets picked up by a Jaguar, has a lawyer at $400, or whatever he charges, an hour, come fly across country to file brief to remind people, in case you forget the name of the child, what her name is, again, because we want to protect her.

HEMMER: Let me put up a quote from Sandra Banning. That's the mother of your daughter here. She says that "She's worried about a lifetime of public scorn, if she becomes known as the little atheist girl that attacked the pledge." Don't you think, listen, at 8 years of old, she might have a point on that one?

NEWDOW: Don't you think it's pretty horrible that we're worried about the child being known as an atheist, that's a bad thing? That's why we need to get "under God" out of the Pledge of Allegiance. And bear in mind that whether or not I have a standing of what goes on here, the pledge is still unconstitutional. That's the key.

HEMMER: So your daughter stays in it, right?

NEWDOW: My daughter, I didn't bring her in it. All I said I have a child. I'm not the one who's broadcasting her name.

HEMMER: Would you ever bend to Sandra Banning's request, in order to make it easier for your 8-year-old daughter?

NEWDOW: My 8-year-old daughter is having a fine life. She wants to go swimming. She's not concerned with this.

HEMMER: She ever bring it up?

NEWDOW: We talk about it rarely, not much.

HEMMER: When did you become a doctor by the way, Michael?

NEWDOW: In 1978.

HEMMER: That's news to me. We didn't have that last time. But listen, we'll talk again. I'm sure it continues to create a buzz across Sacramento and across the country. Dr. Michael Newdow with us this morning. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com