Ethics

Newdow Files Suit Over Inauguration

By Ed Brayton

Michael Newdow has filed suit against Obama's inauguration to stop his oath of office from including "so help me God" and to prevent the delivery of an invocation. You can see the court documents here. The suit is absolutely pointless if he actually intends to try and win it. He must know that it will never survive a motion to dismiss based on standing. Why must he know this? Because he filed a virtually identical lawsuit in 2001 and 2005 and they were dismissed. It won't be any different this time.

I hate the court's standing doctrine, as I've said many times, and I'd rather have the inauguration be religion-free. But it's not going to happen anytime soon, and certainly not as a result of this lawsuit. I'm not alone in this. American Atheists refused to join his suit and their legal director, who is going to be on my show next week, thinks the same thing about the suit.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on January 02, 2009 (boomark / email).