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Attorney Danny Lampley is seen in an undated photo provided by the Lee County, Miss., Sheriff's Department.
"The judge is lucky he's immune from being sued," said George Cochran, the iconic constitutional law professor at the University of Mississippi.
Littlejohn declined comment on the situation Wednesday and could not be reached again today.
News reports about Lampley's jailing are being published around the globe after The Associated Press carried information from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal's report.
In a Russian version of the story, the only words recognizable by English readers are the newspaper's name, Littlejohn's and Lampley's.
Reaction has been harsh, too, from Mississippi attorneys and legal bloggers.
• Read Friday's Daily Journal for more.
(EARLIER POSTING BELOW)
TUPELO - Danny Lampley's clients usually are the ones ordered to the Lee County Jail.
Wednesday, Chancellor Talmadge Littlejohn sent the 49-year-old Oxford attorney there for refusing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in court.
Littlejohn urged Lampley to reconsider repeating the Pledge, as every other person in the judge's courtroom did as the day's proceedings began.
"This morning, that was the last thing on my mind," Lampley said late in the day after a child-support hearing.
At 10 a.m., Lampley was in jail garb. By 2:30 p.m., Littlejohn ordered his release and return to the Lee County Justice Center to continue their business.
After the hearing, Littlejohn's assistant said the judge had no comment on the matter.
Lampley said he was worried the judge would send him back to jail.
Simply put, the attorney said he and the judge have a "different point of view" about things, like loyalty oaths and the pledge.
"I have a lot of respect for him," Lampley said, "I'm just not going to back off on this.
"It's a problem, but it's for the judge and me to work out."
Wednesday's incident wasn't the first time Lampley had crossed the judge. Lampley said he was reprimanded by Littlejohn in June in a Corinth proceeding.
"I don't have to say it because I'm an American," he said about the 31-word pledge. "I hope he's not too angry with me."
David Hudson Jr., a scholar at the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University, said forcing Lampley to repeat the pledge is clearly a violation of his free-speech rights.
"I've never heard of a judge jailing a lawyer over this," he said Wednesday.
Lampley is no stranger to controversy. Years ago, he represented a Pontotoc woman who objected to student-led intercom prayer and Bible history classes taught at North Pontotoc Attendance Center. U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers agreed the activities were unconstitutional.
Contact Patsy R. Brumfield at (662) 678-1596 or patsy.brumfield@djournal.com. Emily Le Coz contributed to this report.
Click here for Associated Press video of this story.
The judge is in the wrong for trying to make him say the pledge.
The lawyer can be preceived in the wrong for not respecting this great country.
If I remember correctly, there was a nice little movie some years ago called the American President with Michael Douglas. Toward the end of the movie in a speech, Douglas as the President, talks about how living in the United States is advanced citizenship. The speech goes on talking about defending the burning of an American flag, even though the thought of that burning is bad. Perhaps a nice parallel to what is going on here.
People are just taking their citizenship for granted. There is just not enough respect for other people; and there is just not enough respect for this country anymore.
If the lawyer wanted another 15 minutes of fame, don't do it while disrespecting where we live. If the judge wants to make a point of how more respect is needed, don't force someone to do something he should know better than.
Come on people, stop coasting through life, spoiled by the freedom you have.
Now you tell me just what exactly should I do about Mississippian's health, lack of education and ample supply of ignorant rednecks? What should poor little americasgone do? You talk a lot of crap but you have no viable answers yourself on how to pull an entire state out of the slums.
Mississippi is at the bottom because it is content being there. It likes it and that is why people don't lose weight, finish school etc. They are content with the cards they have.
People like you who don't accept the truth about MS are as much of the problem as anything. You can't fix it because you don't accept the problem. Get you head out of the sand.
Mississippi is portrayed negatively so often in the media because - for the most part - we deserve it. While there are undeniably intelligent people of conscience here, a disproportionate number of Mississippians ARE ignorant, bigoted, superstitious, misogynist, collard-green-eating hicks. If you have a large population of ignorant people, you're inevitably going to get ignorant elected officials. And if you're offended by that observation, there's a pretty good chance I might be talking about you. Instead of people complaining about the way Mississippi is portrayed in the media, how about complaining about the stupidity like this that goes on every day unnoticed by CNN and FOX?
Sounds like your daughter had an accident. I hope she's ok.
Peace,
as far as you americasgone...after 51 years of life experience, over half of that managing hourly employees as well as professionals, I have learned THAT lesson very well. The kind of people that are constantly spewing like you do, rarely lift a finger to "fix" anything..they enjoy life's eccentricities, not because they provide opportunities for improvement, but because they provide opportunities to drag someone else down into the gutter with them. YES, my comments are generally anecdotal, but hey, evidently the world took one hellacious anecdotal crap on your head for you to have the attitude you do...of course that observation too, is anecdotal on my part as well...
Face the facts, MS more often than not makes the news because of it's rednecks.
Your 'MS, love it or leave' attitude is boring. Have an original thought will you?
My experience is that those that complain the MOST, AND THE LOUDEST, generally are doing THE LEAST, to improve things..."
Oh really? And you did a study on this I suppose. lol! Just more babble from you....
http://www.google.com/recaptcha
and all you yayhoos who want to criticize "Mississippi" for showing up on Fox's news crawler, you might watch it more often and see just how often Mississippi's stupidity is displayed everyday compared to other states. I think you'll find that Chicago, New York, Detroit etc etc have MUCH more idiocy going on than you will ever hear about in Mississippi. For those of you that don't like this great state, with all its warts, shut up and fix something instead of constantly complaining. My experience is that those that complain the MOST, AND THE LOUDEST, generally are doing THE LEAST, to improve things...