Newdow

ORDER

Once we ruled on the merits of this case, 1 the United States Senate sought to intervene as a party and in that capacity to file a petition for rehearing and a petition for rehearing en banc. We deny the Motion to Intervene, but note our willingness to accept the petition and accompanying brief as an amicus brief, if the Senate consents to the latter use of its fifing. Because of the respect that we owe to and *497 have for the Senate, we are constrained to explain the reasons for our denial of intervention.

Initially, of course, we lay aside the usual intervention rule. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(2). This case is more in line with Fed.R.Civ.P. 24(a)(1), which allows intervention as of right “when a statute of the United States confers an unconditional right to intervene.” There is a special statute that applies to this motion. As relevant here, the statute first provides that the Senate Legal Counsel shall intervene or appear as amicus “when directed to do so by a resolution adopted by the Senate.” 2 U.S.C. § 288b(c). There was a resolution here. See Senate Resolution 292, 107th Cong., 2d Sess. (2002), 148 Cong. Rec. S6105-06 (2002). The statute goes on to provide that…