July 27, 2010
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling Monday, which ruled that printing the national motto, “In God We Trust,” on U.S. currency does not violate the Establishment Clause.
Self-avowed atheist Carlos Kidd – who sued President Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke – claimed U.S. currency violated the separation of church and state.
Kidd also demanded that the government “destroy or recycle all circulating currency, and replace it with new currency without religious inscription.”
The three-judge panel cited concurring opinions by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sandra Day O’Conner –in Van Orden v. Perry (2005) and Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2003), respectively – which said that “In God We Trust” did not violate the Establishment Clause.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Read the Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, July 21, 2010.
Read the District Court’s opinion in Kidd v. Obama, Oct. 30, 2009.
Read Justice Breyer’s concurring opinion in Van Orden v. Perry (2003).
Read Justice O’Connor’s concurring opinion in Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (2003).
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