Mississippi Attorney Danny Lampley was jailed for five hours this week because he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the order of a judge. Lampley had shown up to court to represent his client in a divorce case when Judge Talmadge Littlejohn entered the courtroom and asked everyone to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Clinging to his First Amendment rights, Lampley refused to participate and was held in contempt.
The ironic thing is that Lampley successfully sued the Pontotoc school district in northern Mississippi in the 1990s to stop students from exercising their First Amendment rights by preventing them from praying over the intercom.
It has long been misunderstood that freedom of speech is a right given only to those who oppose organized religion or the patriotism of Americans in singing the National Anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Its about time they begin to learn that the First Amendment is a two way street.
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