In Washington, The former football coach of a high school in western Washington who lost his job after praying on the 50-yard line after games was granted relief by the Supreme Court on Monday.
The First Amendment’s free exercise and free speech sections, the court held 6-3 along ideological lines, protects someone who expresses their religion. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District was the case, and Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion.
For religious and nonreligious perspectives equally, the Constitution and the finest of our traditions encourage respect and tolerance rather than repression and oppression, according to Gorsuch.
Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, was involved in a legal dispute that involved the establishment, free speech, and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. According to Kennedy’s attorneys, the school district’s response to his religious expression violated his constitutional rights. When the school district learned about Kennedy’s postgame prayers, it alerted him that his actions probably broke the establishment clause, which forbids the government from promoting a religion.
A plethora of friend-of-the-court filings, including those from former NFL players and professional and collegiate athletes who supported both sides of the argument, were filed in the court battle over Kennedy’s post-game prayers at midfield.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the liberal minority on Monday, asserted that the Constitution does not permit public schools to condone Kennedy’s behavior and that the majority’s position dismisses “longstanding concerns” about government sponsorship of religion.
Sotomayor, backed by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, wrote: “Official-led prayer strikes at the core of our constitutional protections for the religious liberty of students and their parents, as inherent in both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The court now takes a different course, once more giving almost sole emphasis to the protection provided by the Free Exercise Clause for private religious practice while ignoring the Establishment Clause’s ban on state establishment of religion.
Kennedy’s legal representative, Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty, hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “tremendous triumph” for him and religious freedom.
Shackelford said in a statement that “our Constitution preserves the right of every American to participate in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of being fired.”
The court’s ruling, however, “represents the greatest loss of religious freedom” in years, according to Rachel Laser, president and chief executive officer of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
In Washington, The former football coach of a high school in western Washington who lost his job after praying on the 50-yard line after games was granted relief by the Supreme Court on Monday.
The First Amendment’s free exercise and free speech sections, the court held 6-3 along ideological lines, protect someone who expresses their religion. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District was the case, and Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion.
For religious and nonreligious perspectives equally, the Constitution and the finest of our traditions encourage respect and tolerance rather than repression and oppression, according to Gorsuch.
Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, was involved in a legal dispute that involved the establishment, free speech, and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment. According to Kennedy’s attorneys, the school district’s response to his religious expression violated his constitutional rights. When the school district learned about Kennedy’s postgame prayers, it alerted him that his actions probably broke the establishment clause, which forbids the government from promoting a religion.
A plethora of friend-of-the-court filings, including those from former NFL players and professional and collegiate athletes who supported both sides of the argument, were filed in the court battle over Kennedy’s post-game prayers at midfield.
Kennedy expressed his gratitude for the case’s eventual conclusion and praised his supporters in an interview with CBS News on Monday, calling the victory a “wonderful ruling for America.”
Everyone has the same rights, regardless of their religious beliefs, according to Kennedy, and that is what the Constitution is all about. “All Americans have rights,”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the liberal minority on Monday, asserted that the Constitution does not permit public schools to condone Kennedy’s behavior and that the majority’s position dismisses “longstanding concerns” about government sponsorship of religion.
Sotomayor, backed by Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan, wrote: “Official-led prayer strikes at the core of our constitutional protections for the religious liberty of students and their parents, as inherent in both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The court now takes a different course, once more giving almost sole emphasis to the protection provided by the Free Exercise Clause for private religious practice while ignoring the Establishment Clause’s ban on state establishment of religion.
On March 9, 2022, at the school’s football field, Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington, smiles for the camera.
AP Photo/TED S. WARREN
Kennedy’s legal representative, Kelly Shackelford of First Liberty, hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “tremendous triumph” for him and religious freedom.
Shackelford said in a statement that “our Constitution preserves the right of every American to participate in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of being fired.”
The court’s ruling, however, “represents the greatest loss of religious freedom” in years, according to Rachel Laser, president and chief executive officer of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
She stated in a statement that by incorrectly characterizing forceful prayer as “personal” and forbidding public schools from defending their kids’ religious freedom, the court “continued its assault on church-state separation.” “It is no accident that the deterioration of the separation of church and state has coincided with the tragic loss of so many of the rights we value. Public education, reproductive rights, civil rights, and other issues have all come under attack as that line has become more hazy.”
Assuring that it is a “welcoming, inclusive environment for all children, their families, and our staff,” the Bremerton School District stated it will keep up the good work.
Following his first game as Bremerton Knights coach in August 2008, Kennedy started praying after football games for the first time. After the final buzzer, Kennedy initially started praying by himself before thanking God momentarily. However, players quickly joined him, with participation varying from week to week. One father at least claimed that their son “felt obliged to participate” for fear of losing playing time.
The prayers, too, changed from being brief, private statements of gratitude to inspirational addresses that included religious allusions.
For the next seven years, Kennedy’s routine of praying on the field was unchallenged. When the coach of the opposing team told the principal of the high school that Kennedy had asked his players to join him for the post-game prayer and that he “thought it was pretty cool” that the district would permit such an activity, the Bremerton School District learned what the coach was doing in September 2015.
The coach claimed his expression of religion was protected by the First Amendment, but supporters of the school district contended the coach was acting as an agent of the state who, as a public school employee, violated the religious freedom of students who felt pressure to pray. The dispute between Kennedy and the school district lasted for years.
Kennedy stopped praying after games because the district instructed him that his interactions with children had to be secular and that all future religious activity had to be kept apart from any involvement with students. However, in October 2015, he started praying again.
Kennedy was then disciplined by the school district, which put him on administrative leave for disobeying its rules. Bremerton’s athletic director then suggested Kennedy not be hired again for the ensuing football season due to his failure to adhere to district policy and supervise student-athletes after games.
In August 2016, Kennedy filed a lawsuit against the district alleging that it had violated his First Amendment rights to free expression and the free exercise of his religion and that he had decided not to reapply for his coaching position at Bremerton High School.
Kennedy originally appealed to the Supreme Court after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled with the school system. The top court denied his appeal in 2019, with four of the court’s conservative justices stating that it was too soon for them to take the issue into consideration.
After further proceedings, Kennedy was defeated in the lower courts once more. He requested a second hearing from the Supreme Court, and the justices granted it in January.