"In God We Trust" on the Nation's Coins and Currency and As the National Motto: History and Constitutionality

This document also available in PDF Image . Two federal statutes currently mandate that the phrase "In God We Trust" be inscribed on all U.S. coins and currency. A third statute declares the phrase to be the national motto. All of the statutes have been challenged from time to time on the grounds that they violate that part of the First Amendment which provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion ...." But notwithstanding the religious affirmation embodied in the phrase, no court has held these practices to violate the establishment clause. Three federal appellate courts have held such uses to be constitutional, and the Supreme Court in dicta has repeatedly indicated its approbation. "In God We Trust" first appeared on one- and two-cent coins during the Civil War as the result of an initiative by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of the Mint, and in 1865 Congress granted the Secretary discretionary authority to so inscribe other coins as well. In 1907 President Theodore Roosevelt stirred controversy by asserting that the inscription amounted to "irreverence which comes dangerously close to sacrilege" and approving the issuance of coins without the inscription. Congress responded to this act by mandating that the inscription be restored. In 1955 the inscription was extended to currency as well, and in 1956 the phrase was statutorily declared to be the national motto. Three cases have been decided which involved challenges to the constitutionality of these uses of the phrase, and in each case a federal appellate court held the practices to be constitutional. In Aronow v. United States the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held such uses to be "of a patriotic or ceremonial character and ... no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of religion." In O'Hair v. Murray the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit agreed that the phrase "has no theological or ritualistic impact." And in Gaylor v. United States the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held the practices to constitute "a form of `ceremonial deism' which through historical usage and ubiquity cannot be reasonably understood to convey government approval of religious belief." The Supreme Court has not decided any case involving the constitutionality of these practices. But it has repeatedly indicated in dicta that it perceives no constitutional problem. Individual Justices have opined at greater length to the same effect. Nonetheless, until the Court actually resolves a case raising the issue of the constitutionality of inscribing the phrase on the nation's coins and currency and declaring it to be the national motto, additional challenges can be expected to recur.