It was updated on Jun 27th, 2022, 10:39am.
A high school in Washington wrongly punished a football coach after he prayed on the field, potentially paving the way for less restrictions on how public school employees can express their religion.
Joe Kennedy was a football coach at the high school.
The court ruled 6-3 in favor of Joseph Kennedy, a former high school football coach in Washington who was punished for praying on the football field during games.
The Supreme Court agreed with Kennedy that the school district had violated his rights.
The justices ruled that Kennedy was not acting within the scope of his duties as a coach because he was praying after the game ended and not doing any of his duties.
The justices ruled that requiring school officials to have no religious expression would undermine a long constitutional tradition in which learning.
Though the school argued the prayers violated the Constitution's Establishment Clause, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court that Kennedy's actions "did not come close to crossing any line one might imagine."
The court's liberals argued the majority's opinion "rejects longstanding concerns surrounding government"
For the court's majority, respect for religious expressions is essential to life in a free and diverse Republic. The Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment were invoked to protect an individual from being punished for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance. The constitution doesn't tolerate discrimination.
The core of our constitutional protections for the religious liberty of students and their parents is struck by official-led prayer. The decision does a disservice to schools and the young citizens they serve as well as to our nation's longstanding commitment to the separation of church and state.
Kennedy was put on paid administrative leave by the school district in 2015, after it became aware of his praying from another school's coach, and that he wouldn't be renewing his contract after he refused the school's requests for a more private way to pray. Kennedy has described his practice as saying a brief, quiet prayer to himself, but the school alleges the prayer was much more public and students felt pressured to join in. The liberal justices argued that the majority was wrong to ignore the fact that Kennedy asked others to join him in disrupting school. The Supreme Court took up the case this term after rejecting the case at an earlier stage in the litigation.
The 6-3 conservative court has ruled in favor of religious liberty before, including a decision last term that allowed Catholic adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex foster parents. The "free exercise" clause was violated when the court ruled against the school tuition program in Maine that forbade public funds from being used on religious schools.
The Supreme Court could side with the football coach who was fined for praying.
State funds may be used to pay for religious schools.
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