Legal Commentary

Judge Reinhardt?s Dig on Sarah Palin

By Orin Kerr

From Judge Reinhardt?s 133-page dissent in the pledge-of-allegiance case, Newdow v. Rio Linda Union School District, the first dissent I have ever read that comes with a table of contents:

For many Americans, the current version of the Pledge is the only version they have ever known. Some individuals not familiar with our political history may even be under the impression that its language dates back to the founding fathers.fn4
?
fn4 See, for example, the words of former Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska: ?If [the Pledge] was good enough for the founding fathers, its [sic] good enough for me . . . .? Eagle Forum Alaska, 2006 Gubernatorial Candidate Questionnaire, July 31, 2006, http://irregulartimes.com/eagle-forum-2006-gubernatorial-candidate.html.

I?ll bet there?s a Reinhardt clerk out there somewhere who is extremely proud of that passage. If you?re curious how the Reinhardt chambers learned of Sarah Palin?s questionnaire, I suspect it may have something to do with the story making the rounds of liberal blogs back in September 2008, nine months after the oral argument in this case. See, e.g., DailyKos, Huffington Post, Think Progress.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on March 11, 2010 (boomark / email).