WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday to preserve the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance recited by school children.

The 14-year-old student says she declined to stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in January to protest U.S. support of Israel's war in Gaza.

President George H.W. Bush took action by banning certain imported assault weapons. That year alone, the number of imported assault weapons traced to crime dropped by 45 percent.