Man's Pledge crusade had its roots in south Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE -- An atheist's crusade to get the words "under God" stricken from the Pledge of Allegiance began in Broward County four years ago.

Michael Newdow was trying to keep his daughter from having to recite the words at school when he filed a complaint against the Broward school board in 1998. The challenge failed, although it eventually reached the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

But on Wednesday, a panel of a federal appeals court in California sparked outrage across the country when it ruled 2-1 that it was unconstitutional to include the words "under God" in the pledge.

The appeals court took up the case after a federal judge dismissed a California lawsuit brought by Newdow, a Sacramento physician with a law degree who represented himself.

"He's a believer of the Constitution," Newdow's mother Rosalyn, who lives in Fort Lauderdale part-time, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

"He just believed in the truth. I can't praise him enough," she said from her New Jersey summer home.

Newdow has said it is his right as a parent to say that he doesn't want the government telling his child what to believe. President Bush found the ruling "ridiculous," and said Thursday that it was "out of step with the traditions and history of America."

Some legal scholars say Wednesday's ruling will likely either be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court or reversed by the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Newdow lived in South Florida but moved to California after he filed the case against the Broward school board.

U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro-Benages dismissed Newdow's case because his daughter no longer attended school in Broward.

In the ruling, Ungaro-Benages also wrote: "The Supreme Court, although not directly, has suggested that the inclusion of "one nation under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance does not endorse religion and is consistent with the First Amendment."

The district judge's opinion was appealed to the 11th, which on Jan. 4, 2000, found "no reversible error" and declined to hear arguments.

Ed Marko, the school district's attorney, said the Broward case did not go beyond written motions and there was never a hearing.

He said Newdow did not strike him as crazy, as some have portrayed him.

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