Washington (Wednesday, November 13, 2002) - President Bush signed into law on Wednesday a bill reaffirming, with a slap at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, references to God in the Pledge of Allegiance and national motto.

Bush signed the legislation without comment. It reinforces support for the words "under God" in the pledge, and for "In God we trust" as the national motto.

The measure was approved unamiously in the Senate and drew just five "no" voites in the House. Congress rushed to act after the federal appeals court in California ruled in June (2002) that the phrase "under God," inserted into the pledge by Congress in 1954, amounted to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

The legislation faulted the court for its "erroneous rationale" and "absurd result."

The new law also modifies the manner in which the pledge is to be delivered by stating that, when not in uniform, men should remove any "non-religious" headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Previously, the standard dictated that "any headdress" be removed.

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