GET HOWELL RAINES HIS SMELLING SALTS:

Supreme Court justice says courts misinterpreting church-state separation (GINA HOLLAND, January 12, 2003, Associated Press)

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia complained Sunday that courts have gone overboard in keeping God out of government.

Scalia, speaking at a religious ceremony, said the constitutional wall between church and state has been misinterpreted both by the Supreme Court and lower courts.

As an example, he pointed to a ruling in California that barred students from saying the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase "one nation under God."

That appeals court decision is on hold pending further consideration by the same court, but the Supreme Court could eventually be asked to review the case.

Scalia, the main speaker at an event for Religious Freedom Day, said past rulings by his own court gave the judges in the Pledge case "some plausible support" to reach that conclusion.

However, the justice said he believes such decisions should be made legislatively, not by courts.

This should be good for a whole new barrage of hysterical anti-Scalia editorials. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 12, 2003 11:37 PM