t seemed like a normal day in Chancellor Talmadge Littlejohn's courtroom in Tupelo, MS. Littlejohn hears cases regarding family law, divorces, child support, that kind of thing. Then Littlejohn ordered everyone in the court to rise and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lawyer Danny Lampley rose, but didn't recite the pledge. The judge urged him to reconsider. Lampley declined. The judge sent him to jail for contempt. The order reads in part:
BE IT REMEMBERED, this date, the Court having ordered all present in the courtroom to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegience, and having found that Danny Lampley, Attorney at Law, failed and refused to do so, finds said Danny Lampley to be in criminal contempt of court.
Lampley spent only a few hours behind bars. Littlejohn ordered his release. The judge didn't comment, but Lampley spoke to the local paper, the NEMS Daily Journal.
Simply put, the attorney said he and the judge have a "different point of view" about things, like loyalty oaths and the pledge.
"I have a lot of respect for him," Lampley said, "I'm just not going to back off on this."
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It ia amazing that in 2010 that a judge in the United States has so little understanding of the constitution that he thinks he can compel someone to recite the pledge of allegiance. This is a disgrace. Freedom of speech includes the right not to be compelled to speak unless you have been ordered to appear as a witness in a case. This judges behavior is reprehensible and un-American. He should be removed from the bench.
John H. Armwood
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