Those opposed to worship in the White House, Pentagon, and Congress invoke the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."

The opposition often uses the phrase "separation of church and state." However, that phrase appears nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Federalist Papers. It derives from a private letter Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802.

The clause's original meaning was specific: it prohibited Congress from designating an official national church, compelling participation, or funding a denomination through taxation, the model the Framers knew firsthand from the Church of England. The Trump administration has done none of those things. No denomination has been named a state church, no citizen has been compelled to worship, and no taxpayer funds have been directed to a religious institution as such.

The Pentagon prayer services began in May 2025, when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth organized the first "Secretary's Christian Prayer and Worship Service" during a workday at the Pentagon auditorium, broadcast live on the Department of War's internal television network, with all department employees invited to attend.

At a monthly Christian service on March 25, 2026, Hegseth asked God to "let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation." Similar services were established at the Department of Labor, where Secretary Chavez-DeRemer spoke of her Catholic faith at the inaugural service on December 10th, and the gatherings have continued monthly.

The legal response has been led primarily by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The suits, filed March 23, 2026, in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., are procedural in nature and do not directly challenge the constitutionality of the prayer services, representing the fourth and fifth FOIA lawsuits the group has filed against the Trump administration, following earlier suits against the Departments of Health and Human Services, State, and Veterans Affairs over the president's February 2025 executive order aimed at eradicating anti-Christian bias in the federal government.