Point • Counterpoint

"We find the Pledge is one of allegiance to our Republic, not of allegiance to the God or to any religion."

Ninth Circuit Judge Carlos T. Bea, author of the March 11 majority opinion in Newdow v. Rio Linda Unified School District, over the constitutionality of the Pledge of Allegiance

"No judge familiar with the history of the Pledge could in good conscience believe ... that the words 'under God' were inserted into the Pledge for any purpose other than an explicitly and predominantly religious one."

Ninth Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt in dissent