The Supreme Court announced yesterday it will not take up a legal dispute by atheist groups which sought to remove the words âIn God We Trustâ from U.S. currency.
Michael Newdow, an activist who filed the lawsuit on behalf of a group of atheists, argued the law to inscribe the nationâs motto on U.S. money was a violation of the First Amendmentâs Establishment Clause, which prohibits Congress from establishing a national religion. The groups filing the lawsuit also claimed that the phrase was in violation of the due process clause in the Fifth Amendment, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, because according to them, it forces âPetitioners (who are Atheists) to bear and proselytize that monotheistic message.â
The Court declined to take up the case.Â
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Paul, Minnesota had previously ruled that the phrase âdoes not compel citizens to engage in a religious observanceâ and dismissed the case. In 2004, Newdow also brought a case arguing the words âunder Godâ in the Pledge of Allegiance violated the First Amendment, though was unsuccessful before the Supreme Court. He also sought to block Chief Justice John Roberts from saying the phrase âSo help me Godâ while administering the presidential oath of office to President Barack Obama during his inauguration in 2009. Newdow also sought to stop the phrase from being recited in the 2013 and 2017 inaugurations. A federal court threw out that lawsuit, and the Supreme Court in 2011 declined to take up the case.
In addition to the Supreme Court, Congress has repeatedly upheld the phrase âIn God We Trustâ as the national motto. The phrase first appeared on coins in 1864 on the two-cent coin. Congress passed legislation in 1955, and it was approved by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, requiring all paper and coin currency to bear the words. The laws authorizing its use were first legally challenged in 1970 and 1978 when the federal courts rejected atheist Madalyn Murray OâHairâs argument that the motto violated the First Amendment.
âOur national motto âIn God We Trustâ has been on all U.S. currency for more than 60 years and it will remain there, despite ridiculous attempts by atheists to remove it,â said Liberty Counselâs Founder and Chairman Mat Staver.Â
(Source: Liberty Counsel)