There was a heated exchange Wednesday at the organizational meeting of the US House Judiciary Committee over whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited at the beginning of US Senate House sessions.
Rep. Deborah Ross, D-North Carolina 02 quoted a Supreme Court opinion on the matter in the case of the West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943): “If there’s any fixed star in our institutional constellation, it is that no official high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force our citizens to confess by word or action their faith therein.”
Republican Rep. Chip Roy, Texas, chided Ross, stating, “The gentlelady of North Carolina is suggesting to the people of this great country that we should not be standing and pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States for it has a phrase in it, Under God, because that is what we’re standing here and saying.”
Ross hit back at Roy, saying he shouldn’t put words in her mouth. Amazing.
Democrat Rep. Deborah Ross, Nc-02. Courtesy of Forbes YouTube.