Judge Jails Lawyer After Refusing to Say Pledge In Court. Proves Judge Has A Pair.

By: Don Caldwell

I bet this judge is close to retirement, and does not care what others may think :o)


Excerpts italicized:


A Mississippi judge again asked everyone in his courtroom to stand and pledge allegiance to the flag, despite an uproar over whether he has the right to make such a request.


The furor began Wednesday when an attorney with a reputation for fighting free speech battles stayed silent as everyone else recited the patriotic oath. The lawyer was jailed.


A day later, Judge Talmadge Littlejohn continued to ask those in his courtroom to say the pledge.
"I didn't expect the Pledge of Allegiance, but he asked me to do it, so I did it," said Melissa Adams, 41, who testified in a child custody case that was closed to the public.


Attorney Danny Lampley spent about five hours behind bars before Littlejohn set him free so that the lawyer could work on another case. Lampley told The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal he respected the judge but wasn't going to back down


The Supreme Court ruled nearly 70 years ago that schoolchildren couldn't be forced to say the pledge, a decision widely interpreted to mean no one could be required to recite it


Littlejohn is in his mid-70s and has been a chancery judge for eight years, presiding mainly over divorces and child custody disputes. He was a state lawmaker, prosecutor and city judge before then. He's also a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church of New Albany and is known for running an orderly, professional courtroom


In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that children in public schools could not be forced to salute the flag and say the pledge. In 1954, the words "under God" were added to the pledge, when members of Congress at the time said they wanted to set the United States apart from "godless communists."


In March, an appellate court upheld references to God on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance, rejecting arguments they violate the constitutional separation of church and state.


Is the pledge necessary? Outdated? Has become a battleground between the left and the right for the sake of it? Is it constitutional? Could anyone be offended by it? Should they be? And of course (last but not least), are you a pink-o commie?

(ORIGINAL LINK) Miss. Judge Again Asks Courtroom to Say Pledge After Jailing Lawyer for Refusing - FoxNews.com