The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by a Hanover couple who claimed the rights of their three young children were violated when elementary school and middle school teachers led their classes in daily recitation of the pledge because it describes the United States as a nation "under God." The parents, identified only as Jan and Pat Doe, said their children, like them, were atheist or agnostic.
The couple in 2007 joined with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Madison, Wis., organization promoting the separation of church and state, to sue the local school districts and the federal government. Their lawsuit challenged the constitutionality of the New Hampshire School Patriot Act, a law enacted in 2002 amid discussion of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The law requires schools to establish a time during the school day for students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance. It does not require students to stand during the pledge or give any reason for not joining the recitation, but it does ask them to be silent and respectful.
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