<P> A 2005 Bill, H.R. 2389, to prohibit the Supreme Court's and most federal courts from considering any legal challenges to the government's requiring or promoting of the Pledge of Allegiance, died in the Senate after having passed in the House . This action is viewed in general as court stripping by Congress of the constitutional power of the judiciary . Even if a similar bill is enacted, its practical effect may not be clear: proponents of the bill have said that it is a valid exercise of Congress's power to regulate the jurisdiction of the federal courts under Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution, but opponents say Congress does not have the authority to prevent the Supreme Court from hearing claims based on the Bill of Rights, since this can only be done through Constitutional Amendment . Judges and legal analysts have said that if Congress can remove from the judicial branch the ability to determine if legislation is constitutional, the US separation of powers would be disturbed, or rendered non-functional . </P> <P> Mark J. Pelavin, former Associate Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said of court stripping in regard to the Pledge of Allegiance that: </P> <P> Today's House adoption of the so - called "Pledge Protection Act" is a shameful effort to strip our federal courts of their ability to uphold the rights of all Americans . By removing the jurisdiction of federal courts, including the Supreme Court, from cases involving the Pledge, this legislation sets a dangerous precedent: threatening religious liberty, compromising the vital system of checks and balances upon which our government was founded, and granting Congress the authority to strip the courts' jurisdiction on any issue it wishes . Today, the issue was the Pledge of Allegiance, but tomorrow it could be reproductive rights, civil rights, or any other fundamental concern . </P> <P> In 2006, in the Florida case Frazier v. Alexandre, a federal district court in Florida ruled that a 1942 state law requiring students to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution . As a result of that decision, a Florida school district was ordered to pay $32,500 to a student who chose not to say the pledge and was ridiculed and called "unpatriotic" by a teacher . </P>

Original pledge of allegiance to the american flag