AZ GOP & Mandatory Flag Pledge: SCOTUS Said Unconstitutional in 1943 Case

Saluting U.S. Flag the “Belamy Salute” (1941)

(Mandatory in classrooms until 1943)

In a challenge to a decades-old Supreme Court precedent, Republicans in the AZ legislature have expressed unanimous support for a bill that would require schoolchildren to say the Pledge of Allegiance. 

Part of this legal argument is from Law & Crime with this headline:

“Arizona Republicans support bill mandating Pledge of Allegiance in schools, setting up potential SCOTUS challenge”

Rep. Barbara Parker (R-Mesa) introduced H.B. 2523 in January. It adds a recitation requirement to existing state law that already requires schools to set aside a specific time each day for students to say the pledge, saying in part: “Each student shall recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States during this time unless a parent requests that the student be excused.”

AZ state law already requires school districts and charter schools to display a U.S. flag in every classroom. The AZ Senate Education Committee voted 4-3 along party lines on March 22, 2022, following a similar unanimous vote among Republicans in the House. It now heads to the full Senate for consideration. 

However, AZ Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) said she will not sign bills that lack bipartisan backing — a pledge of her own that may well doom H.B. 2523 to a veto.

The bill, if passed, sets up a potential Supreme Court showdown based on the following: The nation’s highest court previously considered and ruled on the specific legal implications of compelling students to say the Pledge of Allegiance. In the 1943 ruling in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette case, a six-justice majority found that the First Amendment prohibits public schools from forcing students to salute the flag or say the Pledge of Allegiance this way: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…” plus as noted in the photo above students were required to use the Belamy Salute – that salute looks familiar, doesn’t it?    

Note: Refusal to say those precise words could get a child expelled and their parents fined and even jailed. That part was at the heart of the dispute in the Barnette case.

The landmark Barnette ruling, written by Justice Robert H. Jackson (Jamestown, NY), calling the ruling in part: “Freedom from forced speech a fixed star among constitutional protections guaranteed to all Americans.”

My 2 Cents: Once again a clear case example of the “new” GOP’s culture war assault on just about every aspect of our daily and personal lives.

At the same time all across rightwing media they constantly blame DEMS for doing exactly what they themselves are doing, and that is ripping apart many of our time-honored values for narrow-minded conservative remake of those values in the name of whatever we choose to call it.

It seems to be like the goal once put forward by Steve Bannon who once said: “We will deconstruct the administrative state, and put it back in our image” [sic]. 

That was Bannon’s vision statement for Trump and him to carry out after the 2016 election. That cannot be denied not matter how hard the conservative cultural right tries to twists it otherwise.

So, what is truly wrong in American politics and society in general across the nation today? 

Just ask the Grand Old Poops.

Thanks for stopping by.