Ashcroft asks court to undo Pledge of Allegiance ban

The Bush administration and a California school district yesterday asked the Supreme Court to reverse the federal appeals court ruling that banned the reciting in schools of the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase "one nation under God." Attorney General John Ashcroft, who vowed to "spare no effort to preserve the rights of all our citizens to pledge allegiance to the American flag," said the appeal filed yesterday afternoon defends centuries of tradition.

Ashcroft is wrong about this one. The pledge is neither voluntary nor appropriate for a public school when it contains a religious reference, and the concept of a mandatory loyalty oath applied to children who are unable to effectively object or act to preserve their own opinions is repugnant.