The lawsuit to prevent Barack Obama from saying “so help me God”, in his Presidential oath was recently thrown out of court.  No real surprise there.

But do lawsuits, even the supposed “trivial” ones help, or hurt the atheist cause?

Looking back at some of the lawsuit brought by non-believers can hopefully help answer that question:

Optional religious teaching in public schools was ruled unconstitutional in 1943 - McCollum v. Board of Education. Brought by atheist Vashti McCollum, who was harassed and lost her job over the atheist cause.

School sponsored Bible readings were declared violation of the separation of church and state in 1963 – Murray v. Curlett. The ‘Murray’ was the son of the ‘most hated woman in America’, atheist advocate Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

Teaching evolution is now completely legal thanks to 1968 - Epperson v. Arkansas. Backed by the ACLU, this was a similar law to the one challenged in the Scopes Monkey Trial. On the evolution side of that trail was agnostic Clarence Darrow.

The importance of the judicial branch is to uphold the rights of everyone, which includes the minority.  Atheists and non-believes are going to be in the minority for a long time (forever, if you ask Hitchens).  So I think these lawsuits are an important part at getting freedom for everyone.