Students Debate Constitutionality of Pledge in Schools
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 7, 2003
Loriann Maxwell
530-898-4263
Students Debate Constitutionality of Pledge in Schools
The pledge of allegiance is receiving a thorough examination this week as California State University, Chico students debate the constitutionality of its language in the annual moot court competition.
Thirty-two teams of students began presenting their arguments before three-court panels on May 5. The single elimination tournament ends Friday, May 9, when the two remaining teams face off in the Chico City Council Chambers at 6 p.m. The final competition is open to the public, and there is no admission charge.
The issue being argued this year is whether the words “one nation under God” in the pledge of allegiance make the recitation of that pledge unconstitutional in state schools. These moot court presentations resemble actual appellate arguments to be made before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to hand down a ruling on the issue in the near future due to the split in the circuit courts. “Our students are going to, as usual, be out ahead of that curve by hearing the case here first,” said political science professor Dane Cameron, moot court adviser.
The three-member judicial panels are made up of about 48 local attorneys and superior court judges. “Our justices over the years are really so impressed,” Cameron said. “Many sit on the bench in court all day, then come to hear our arguments at night, and they tell me that the students made the best arguments that they’ve heard all day.”
The CSU, Chico moot court competition is more than 20 years old and has covered such topics as gays and the Boy Scouts, search and seizure, three-strikes laws, and vagrancy statutes.
For more information, contact Dane Cameron, 530-898-6176.
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