On April 15, a federal district court ruled that the statute establishing a National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional.  In response, on April 22, nearly 30 Members of Congress and leaders of faith organizations defended the constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer and called on the White House to appeal the federal judge's ruling.  The day after the bipartisan press conference, the Department of Justice announced that they would be appealing the decision.

Rep. Forbes, Congressional Prayer Caucus Founder and Co-Chairman said, “Throughout our nation’s history, prayer and religion have been deeply woven into the foundation of our great democracy. The federal judge’s decision to call the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional represents a movement we are seeing across the country of a small minority who want to exclude faith, religion, and morality from the marketplace of ideas.”

Congressman Forbes also appeared on CNN’s ‘Faces of Faith’ to discuss the ruling with Annie Laurie Gaylor, Co-President of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the organization that filed the lawsuit.