Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: RNS

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/175/story_17523_1.html

On September 16, 2005 Religion News Service reported, "U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has promised the Justice Department's vigorous opposition to [a] district court judge's ruling that a reference to God in the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional. Gonzales said the pledge remains one of many expressions of national and patriotic identity that reference God and said he will fight the (Wednesday) Sept. 14 ruling by Judge Lawrence K. Karlton of the U.S. District Court in Sacramento, Calif. 'The Supreme Court has affirmed time and again that such official acknowledgments of our nation's religious heritage, foundation and character are constitutional,' Gonzales said in the statement. He said his office 'will continue vigorously to defend the ability of American schoolchildren to pledge allegiance to the flag.'"