Elk Grove V Newdow Brief

Joshua Upthegrove
Case Brief:
Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow

FACTS: The Respondent Michael Newdow’s daughter attended school at the Elk Grove Unified School District in California. Elk Grove teachers began each school day with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words “under God” added by a 1954 Congressional Act. Newdow sued in federal district court in California, arguing that this violates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
PROCEDURAL HISTORY:
The District Court: dismissed Newdow’s complaint for lack of standing.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals: reversed, holding that he did have standing, and that the School District’s policy requiring it to be recited violated the First Amendment’s establishment clause.
The U.S. Supreme Court: reversed, Newdow did not have standing
ISSUE:
1. Does Michael Newdow have standing to challenge as unconstitutional?
2. Does a public school district policy that requires teachers to lead willing students in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words "under God," violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment?
HOLDING:
1. No, Michael Newdow does not have standing to bring suit.
2. Because Newdow had no standing, the Court failed to reach the constitutional question
RULE: The Article III standing that the Plaintiff must show that the conduct of which he complains has caused him to suffer an “injury of fact,” and also that “domestic relations of husband and wife, parent and child, belong to the laws of the States.”
REASONING: The Supreme Court found that Newdow did not have standing to bring suit because he did not have sufficient custody over his daughter. Justice Stevens Wrote “When hard questions of domestic relations are sure to affect the outcome, the prudent course is for the federal court to stay its hand rather than reach out to resolve a weighty question of federal constitutional law.” He also said that “having been deprived under California law of the right to sue as next friend, Newdow lacks prudential standing to bring this suit in federal court.” Since the court found that Newdow did not have standing, the Court failed to reach the constitutional question.
CONCURRENCE: Chief Justice Rehnquist, and Justices Sandra O’Connor and Clarence Thomas all wrote concurrences, stating that requiring teachers to lead the Pledge is constitutional.