Pledge case and Newdow’s standing:

A reader writes:

[A]s I understand it, there are two issues [related to the Newdow Pledge of Allegiance case]:
1) whether the father has standing [given that he’s not the custodial parent]; and
2) whether the use of “under God” in the Pledge violates the Establishment Clause.

Say the Court reverses based on standing, and as a result, does not reach the Pledge issue. What happens to the 9th Circuit’s ruling on the Pledge issue? A reversal on standing means that the federal courts (both 9th Circuit and district court) never had jurisdiction to decide the case, so what happens to the 9th Circuit’s decision? Would schools within the 9th Circuit no longer be bound by the decision? ]What] effect, if any, would the decision have on district courts (or future 9th Circuit panels) in a case where the plaintiff did have standing?

I haven’t focused that closely on these issues, but here’s my sense:

1. If the Court reverses the case on standing grounds, the Ninth Circuit’s decision will be vacated, and no longer binding precedent. Neither district courts nor school boards would be bound by it.
2. District courts in the Ninth Circuit might still be influenced by the Establishment Clause analysis in the decision, since a reversal on standing grounds doesn’t express any view on the Supreme Court’s part on the merits. The Ninth Circuit’s merits argument might thus remain persuasive to district courts, even though it won’t strictly be binding. But of course how persuaded a district judge will be by it will turn on the district judge’s own sense of the matter.