A lawyer in Tupelo, Miss., was thrown in jail Wednesday for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance in court.
When the judge asked the court to rise and say the Pledge, the lawyer, Danny Lampley, stood but did not say the words. According to local reports, Lampley, known for taking on First Amendment cases, has done so before.
This time, the judge, Talmadge Littlejohn, held him in contempt and sent him to county jail. Lampley was released five hours later.
“I just wish somebody else had handled this before I came along,” Lampley told the Northeast Mississippi News Journal.
Constitutional lawyers say the judge has no authority to force someone to say the Pledge, after the Supreme Court ruled decades ago that students couldn’t be made to recite it in school.
But Littlejohn is reportedly still asking his court to recite the Pledge.
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