By Bill Raack, KWMU.
St. Louis, MO. – Congressman Todd Akin of St. Louis says he will try again with his proposal to keep the federal courts from deciding the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance.
His so-called Pledge Protection Act passed the House in the final days of Congress last year but never got a vote in the Senate.
Akin, a Republican representing Missouri's second district, says the phrase "under God" does not make the pledge unconstitutional.
"Nobody is compelled to say the pledge," Akin said. "But for the courts to say you cannot say the pledge, I believe that's turning the first amendment, which is supposed to be about free speech, on its ear. The judges are censoring what school children voluntarily want to say and I think that's wrong."
Several parents of students in California have filed suit in federal court to delete the phrase "under God" from the pledge in all of its official contexts.