Michael Winter
USA Today
4/14/2011
Overturning a lower court, a federal appellate panel has ruled that the presidentially proclaimed National Day of Prayer is constitutional.
The three judges of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the observation caused no harm to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, so the Madison, Wis.-based group had no legal standing to sue.
“A feeling of alienation cannot suffice as injury,” the appeals court said in its opinion, written by Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook.
The foundation said it would ask the full appeals court to rehear the case, the Wisconsin State Journal says. Here’s the group’s statement.
The appellate judges reasoned that although the proclamationis directed at all citizens, none is obligated to pray “any more than a person would be obliged to hand over his money if the President asked all citizens to support the Red Cross or other charities.”…
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