Law firm defends constitutionality of ‘In God we Trust’ motto

May 9, 2006 / 22:00 pm

Michigan’s Thomas More Law Center has decided to take a prominent atheist activist to task on the constitutionality of the phrase “in God we trust” and its role as the U.S.’s national motto.

On May 19th, a California federal district court is scheduled to hear opening arguments in a case brought by California’s Michael Newdow who, the law center points out, “almost succeeded in having the Pledge of Allegiance recited by California school children declared unconstitutional.”

Ann Arbor based Thomas More has filed a friend of the court brief in Sacramento’s federal district court supporting the U.S. government’s motion to dismiss the case.

In their brief, the group said that “This nation and its form of government were founded upon an essential idea: individuals have God-given rights that the government may neither bestow nor deny.”

Richard Thompson, the law center’s Chief Counsel added this week that “Newdow’s attempt to eliminate the mere acknowledgement of our religious heritage by our National Motto has no basis in constitutional law.”

“Even the Supreme Court, in past decisions, has understood there is an unbroken history of official invocations of Divine guidance beginning with our Founding Fathers and continuing to our present day leaders,” he said.