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High Court's Pledge Decision Skirts Divisive Fight

The Supreme Court dismisses on a technicality a lawsuit seeking to drop the phrase "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, sidestepping the issue of whether the phrase violates the separation of church and state. The ruling relieved both conservatives and civil liberties groups. Both sides of the debate feared that a win would have triggered a divisive fight to amend the Constitution. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

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Nina Totenberg is NPR's award-winning legal affairs correspondent. Her reports air regularly on NPR's critically acclaimed newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition.