Of the millions of Americans shocked by a U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in June that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional, none was more surprised than Sandra Banning. The lawsuit challenging the inclusion of the words "under God" had been filed in Sacramento by ex-beau Michael Newdow on behalf of their 8-year-old daughter. Banning quickly called her pastor: "I said, 'You know Mr. Pledge of Allegiance on TV? That's my daughter's father! You guys gotta pray for us!' "

In case prayer didn't work, Banning had a backup plan. On Aug. 5 she filed a motion seeking to intervene in the case claiming that the girl does not object to reciting the Pledge in its entirety because, unlike her atheist father, she is a Christian who regularly attends services with her mother near their Elk Grove, Calif., home. "He's using our daughter as a vehicle," says Banning, 42, noting that her rights in the case trump Newdow's because she has sole legal custody of the child.

Banning, who dated Newdow for much of the '90s (they split for good in 1999), says she had known about his lawsuit but never read the brief because "I didn't think it had any merit." As legal challenges to the ruling mount (both the Department of Justice and the California attorney general's office are seeking a new hearing), Newdow, 49, hopes that even if the ruling is overturned, he will at least be a winner in his daughter's eyes. "Maybe someday," he told PEOPLE last month, "she'll be proud of her father."