July 19, 2006—Congressman Trent Franks (AZ-02) today urged his fellow Members of Congress to protect the U.S. Constitution by passing H.R.2389, the “Pledge Protection Act.” On the Floor of House of Representatives, Congressman Franks declared,

“When judicial supremacists on the bench desecrate the very Constitution that they are given the sacred charge to defend, those of us in Congress who have also made an oath to defend the Constitution must respond accordingly.” 

The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to limit the jurisdiction of Federal courts. Article III, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution says, “In all the other Cases before mentioned, the Supreme Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.” H.R. 2389 removes the Pledge from the jurisdiction of Federal courts. It protects states so that they may adjudicate the matter without the interference of activist federal judges who have claimed that it is unconstitutional for schoolchildren to voluntarily say the words “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Congressman Franks said, “The Constitution of the United States does not prohibit school children from saying the words ‘under God’ in a voluntary Pledge of Allegiance. It is that fundamentally simple.

“…When a ninth circuit decision says school children cannot voluntarily say the words ‘under God’ in their Pledge of Allegiance, these judges are prohibiting the free exercise of religion.

“If Members of Congress forsake our oath and our duty to defend the Constitution and if we allow this magnificent document to fall prey to activist judges, we relegate this Republic to an arrogant judicial oligarchy. To do this is an abrogation of our oath of office and it tramples on the blood of our Founding Fathers and the soldiers who died to give us America and her rule of law.”

 Trent Franks represents the 2nd Congressional District of Arizona.  He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, the House Judiciary Committee and Vice Chairman of the Constitution Subcommittee