Pledging allegiance to the flag--and the "one nation under God" it is said to represent--has been second nature to generations of American schoolchildren. Yet few have had as much reason to reflect on the practice as those in Sacramento, California. Since March 2000, California's Elk Grove school district has faced a legal challenge to the pledge's constitutionality from Michael A. Newdow, an atheist and physician whose daughter attends one of the system's 34 elementary schools. As the school district prepares to make its case before the U.S. Supreme Court, this highly publicized dispute in "Elk Grove Unified District v. Newdow" is prompting young people in the district's schools to think, and also to deeply disagree. Although the majority of citizens in the district appear to support the position of the school district, there are some who consider it "a tremendous waste of energy." As firmly as they disagree with that minority, district officials have provided opportunities for students to explore and express views contrary to their own, including a district-sponsored student essay contest on the question: "Does the practice of teacher-led recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, which includes the words 'under God,' violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution?"