Camden, NJ — This morning, national civil rights organization American Atheists filed a federal lawsuit against the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior (DOI) to compel the release of public records concerning the planning and promotion of “Rededicate 250,” a worship event held on the National Mall on May 17, 2026.
The overtly religious event was organized by Freedom 250, an entity within the Department of the Interior that was created by executive order soon after President Trump took office. It featured a Christian opening worship service, a Christian worship concert, and speeches from Evangelical Christian government employees, elected officials, and supporters of the Trump Administration — including the Chancellor of Liberty University, the president of Hillsdale College, Paula White, Franklin Graham, and numerous others.
DOJ then actively promoted the Rededicate 250 event, including sending invitations to government employees and members of the public.
“The federal government has no business organizing, funding, or promoting worship services, and it certainly has no business hiding how it did so,” said Nick Fish, President of American Atheists. “When the Trump Administration uses publicly-owned land and publicly-funded agencies to advance White Christian Nationalism, the public has a right to know and to seek a remedy.”
Earlier this year, American Atheists submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the DOI and the DOJ, seeking emails and other records related to the event. After six months, neither department responded to these requests.
“Our nation’s laws do not allow presidential administrations and appointees to ignore FOIA requests that could reveal their misdeeds,” said Geoffrey T. Blackwell, Legal Director of American Atheists. “But the silence speaks volumes. It’s clear this administration would rather keep the American public in the dark than explain how an unconstitutional worship event came to be.”
The lack of response from DOI is especially concerning in light of allegations reported by CNN this morning that the department has been destroying documents “in anticipation of forthcoming scrutiny.” Representative Jared Huffman, Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee and Co-Chair of the Congressional Freethought Caucus, issued letters requiring the recipient agencies “preserve all records and data responsive to oversight,” identify and recover any deleted information,” and “suspend any destruction and deletion practices.”
American Atheists’ filing today is the latest in a series of FOIA lawsuits filed by American Atheists against the Trump Administration in recent weeks — one against the Department of Defense over the elimination of religious identification codes for atheists and nonreligious service members and a second suit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services over religious visas linked to human trafficking.
Through its lawsuit, American Atheists is asking the federal court to direct the DOJ and the DOI to conduct the required searches and produce all records in their possession in accordance with federal law.
