Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has joined the attorneys general of all 50 states in filing an amicus brief with the federal district court in the District of Columbia in opposition to a lawsuit filed by Michael Newdow in opposition to the religious elements of the upcoming inauguration of Barack Obama.
 
The lawsuit challenges two principal elements of the inauguration, the appending of the phrase “so help me God” to the oath of office mandated by the Constitution and the delivery of an invocation at the event. Newdow filed similar suits in 2000 and 2004, both of which were dismissed, as was an earlier suit he filed challenging the insertion of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

On Thursday, the court heard oral argument on Newdow’s motion for a preliminary injunction to prevent the inauguration to include those religious aspects, but U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton denied the injunction request. It is all but certain that this suit will end up being dismissed just as the earlier ones were.