A divided federal appeals court in San Francisco has upheld recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, including the words "under God," in public schools. The court that ruled having teachers lead students in the pledge is not an unconstitutional government establishment of religion, because the purpose of reciting the pledge is patriotic. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the two-to-one decision. This is the second time Michael Newdow, an atheist father, has come before the court with a legal challenge regarding the Pledge. In a 2002 decision, the appeals court ruled that requiring children to hear the Pledge with the God reference included was unconstitutional. That created a national controversy and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court dismissed it on a technicality. Newdow refiled his lawsuit and challenged a California education law that mandates "daily appropriate patriotic exercises" in public schools. Children are allowed to opt out of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in California.