Divining the Court

Our best legal brains are still scratching their heads about the Supreme Court decision in the Pledge of Allegiance case (see Elisabeth Sifton, "The Battle Over the Pledge," April 5). Rather than deciding whether the words "one nation, under God" recited in public schools breached the wall between church and state, the Court ruled 8 to 0 that the plaintiff had no standing to sue for his daughter. So God wins on a technicality? Was the Court following the "iliction returns," in line with Mr. Dooley's adage, hedging against the defeat of a faith-based presidency in November? Or were the Justices making a stealth recusal because of the Court's daily invocation of the protection of the Deity--"God save the United States and this Honorable Court"? God only knows.

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