Abbott Wins Fight To Keep God In Inauguration

Attorney General Abbott Supports Court Ruling Allowing Prayer In Upcoming Presidential Inauguration

AUSTIN, TX Jan. 16, 2009 -– Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today supported a Thursday ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton clearing the way for prayer at President-elect Barack Obama’s Presidential Inauguration next week and the presidential oath of office to include the phrase, “So help me God.”

“Yesterday's federal court decision marks an important victory for all Americans’ right to freely express their religious faith,” said Attorney General Abbott. “Since President George Washington first said ‘So help me God’ in 1789, American presidents have a longstanding, historic--and constitutionally established--tradition of invoking the Almighty at their inaugural ceremonies. Recognizing that right, the federal district court rejected the plaintiffs' request and cleared the way for President-elect Obama to invoke God during his historical inauguration.”

Attorney General Abbott and attorneys general representing all 50 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands filed their amicus brief in an effort to defeat a legal challenge that activist Michael Newdow and several atheist organizations filed on Dec. 30, 2008. Late Thursday, Judge Walton refused to grant the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction – an action which could have prevented President-elect Barack Obama’s oath from including the phrase, “So help me God,” and prayer during the inauguration.

The states’ action in Michael Newdow, et al. v. Hon. John Roberts, Jr. reflects Attorney General Abbott’s latest effort to lead a multi-state defense of public acknowledgments of God. In a 2003 amicus brief that was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of all 50 states, Attorney General Abbott successfully helped thwart Newdow’s attempt to remove the words “under God” from the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance. In 2007, he defeated a separate lawsuit attempting to remove the words “under God” from the Texas Pledge of Allegiance.

Attorney General Abbott also personally appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, where he successfully defended a Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds. In that case, Van Orden v. Perry, the plaintiff sought to remove a Ten Commandments from the Texas Capitol, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the monument was constitutional.