Faithful Justice Strikes Back

Chief Justice Rehnquist to Michael Newdow: Suck it.

WASHINGTON — An atheist lost his bid Wednesday to have the Supreme Court bar the saying of a prayer at President Bush's inauguration (search).

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist (search) denied Michael Newdow's (search) claim that a prayer at Thursday's ceremony would violate the Constitution by forcing him to accept unwanted religious beliefs.

In so doing, Rehnquist also rejected Newdow's request to recuse himself from the case because he is scheduled to swear in Bush. Newdow had argued that Rehnquist had become a willing fixture in a government ceremony "infused with sectarian Christian religion" and thus had a conflict of interest.

Justice is so delicious.