On January 14, the Supreme Court announced it would hear the appeal of a former American football coach from a Washington state high school who claims his rights to freedom of speech and religion were violated when he was fired in 2015 for praying on the field after games.
Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant coach at Bremerton High School, outside Seattle, is asking the Court to overturn a 2017 lower court decision that sided with the school district. The decision stated that Kennedy had acted as a public agent by praying with athletes who wished to join him in prayer and in view of other students and parents.
Kennedy appealed this decision to the Supreme Court in 2019. The justices chose not to review it at the time but did not completely foreclose it. Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, wrote in a separate concurrence that the timing was not right to review the case because it involved "unresolved factual questions."
First Liberty, a law firm specializing in religious freedom cases, represents Kennedy, described on its website as "Coach Joe." The site also asks for support for "Team Kennedy," saying the game is on at the Supreme Court, and it includes a photo of Kennedy in front of the Court with a football.
Mr. Kennedy, who said he made a personal commitment to thank God after every game, win or lose, since he began coaching in 2008, took to kneeling on the sideline after the game, alone, to pray silently. He eventually was joined in this practice by many team members.
The parents of one player said their son, an atheist, felt he had to join the prayer or risk losing playing time.
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School district officials asked Kennedy to stop the post-game prayers to comply with the Establishment Clause of the Constitution, which prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another.
Kennedy asked the school to grant him 15 seconds to kneel on the field for silent prayer when players were no longer on the field, which district officials refused, believing it to be a violation of policy.
Instead, the school district offered to give the coach a private space to pray or said it would allow him to pray after the crowd had left the stadium.
According to a description of the case by scotusblog.com, a website devoted to the Supreme Court, Kennedy's announcement that he would not comply with the rule prompted a large group of supporters—including parents, a state legislator, and members of both teams—to join him at the 50-yard line after a game in October 2015.
After that, the school district placed Kennedy on paid administrative leave. In a performance evaluation, the head football coach said Kennedy should not be rehired because he had violated school district policy.
Kennedy did not seek to be rehired as a coach and filed a lawsuit in federal district court, claiming the school district had violated his First Amendment rights.
The trial court sided with the school district, leading Kennedy to the Supreme Court in 2019 and again last year, arguing his case, which has garnered some national attention.
He told the justices that the ruling against him by the U.S. Court of Appeals placed the religious expression of hundreds of thousands of teachers "on the brink of extinction" and that its "paralyzing effects elsewhere in the country are palpable."
John Bursch, senior counsel and vice president of Alliance Defending Freedom, a religious liberty advocacy group, welcomed the Court's decision to take up the case. In a January 14 statement, he said that if the lower court's opinion remained intact, its "manifest hostility toward personal religious practice would drive the faithful from public life."
"We look forward to the Supreme Court reviewing the arguments in this case and affirming the constitutionally protected freedom of public officials to practice their faith through prayer during work hours," he said.
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