Sen. Orrin Hatch, Republican from Utah, introduced Senate Bill 1297, more commonly known as the Pledge Protection Act 2003, on June 19, 2003. This bill would amend title 28 of the United States Code with respect to the jurisdiction of Federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court over certain cases and controversies involving the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. It was then submitted to the Committee on the Judiciary but did not become law.
Pledge Protection Act 2003 stated, "No court established by Act of Congress shall have jurisdiction to hear or determine any claim that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (`I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.') violates the first article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States."
