The American Spectator

Reader Mail

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Tracy lays the Newdow case succinctly but I wish to touch something a little more personal. The Supremes did something else that is taking a back seat -- parental rights. The Court has traditionally deferred to the States on family court issues believing that is the proper venue. But here in the Newdow case they step squarely center stage on this issue. The tactic being that Newdow did not have parental authority as a means to avoid facing the establishment issue as presented in the case. Okay the flag won, but what about the thousands of divorced parents?

Considering that Newdow is in a ugly divorce/custody battle with his ex-wife, it was appropriate that the Court ruled as they did as custody in this case was unsettled. But the Court, from what I can gather, did not scope their remarks strictly to Newdow. So the question arises, with the door ajar, are the parental rights of noncustodial parents now in peril? Is it now possible that based on this ruling that any parent maybe told to buzz off by the courts simply because they are not the 'parent of record'? Or that a noncustodial parent cannot sign off on medical procedures for the child in an emergency?

p>I suspect that regardless of the outcome of the Pledge issue, the ruling of the Court on the custodial issue will seriously impact family issues in the future. The Court will have to at some future date reverse this decision to extract themselves from the unattended consequences. br> -- John McGinnis br> Arlington, Texas /p> p> NOT EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY br> Re: Shawn Macomber's Gathering Moss : /p> p>I enjoyed reading the column on Ted Kennedy and found it amusing. All was well until Macomber's reference to Dean Martin. I think linking Martin and Kennedy in the same sentence does a disservice to old Deano. You may recall that it was Martin who warned Frank Sinatra about the phoniness of the Kennedys.

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