As chief justice nominee John Roberts answered questions for a second day Wednesday from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he was told that a federal judge in San Francisco had ruled the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools was unconstitutional because the pledge contains the words “under God.”

Roberts agreed with a statement by Senator Jeff Sessions that the ruling and similar rulings in 2002 resulted from the Supreme Court’s confusing decisions in religion cases.

"I think the court can redouble its efforts to come to some consistency in its approach,” Roberts said, noting the recent high court rulings on Ten Commandments displays, in which the court allowed a monument in Texas but prohibited a framed display in Kentucky.

The judge who ruled on the pledge Wednesday said he would issue a restraining order to bar recitation in three school districts in Sacramento, Calif.

The children of the people challenging the pledge go to those schools.

A religious rights group, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says it will file an appeal to the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and that it will most likely eventually wind up back at the Supreme Court.

The appeals court ruled previously in a case filed by atheist Michael Newdow that the pledge is unconstitutional in public schools because of the words "under God."

That case was dismissed by the Supreme Court, which ruled Newdow had no legal standing.

Newdow, a doctor and a lawyer, filed the suit on behalf of the parents in the current case.

"We still have to get to the court of appeals and see if we prevail there,” he said.