There was an update on April 25, 2022, 09:33pm.
The Supreme Court could make it easier for public school employees to express their religious beliefs on the job, as key conservative justices signaled Monday they may side with a public school football coach who was placed on administrative leave after praying on the football field.
The former assistant football coach at the school will be at the field on March 9.
A football coach at a high school in Washington argued that the school violated his rights by placing him on leave after he said a prayer to himself.
Kennedy's prayers were not private and students felt pressured to join him in prayer, which violates the Constitution's Establishment Clause, which has been used in court to prohibit prayer in public schools.
Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch suggested they were willing to side with Kennedy, with Alito signaling to the school district's counsel he believes the district fired Kennedy for violating the law.
The case raises a different concern than other cases where the court has ruled against religion in schools, and the court could keep those rulings in place while still siding with Kennedy, according to Justice Kavanaugh.
The school's argument that Kennedy coerced players to participate in his prayer circles was sympathetic to them, as was the fact that every player was trying to get on the good side of the coach.
Kennedy's prayer was protected under the First Amendment, but the school district argued that it was state speech.
The case will be decided by the court by late June or early July.
The coach's favor could be used as justification for other public school teachers and officials to go further. The head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State told the Associated Press that if the court rules the wrong way, teachers and coaches could force students to pray in every public school classroom across the country.
One student said that for four years they knelt for Kennedy in solidarity so that he would not object to them playing football.
Kennedy started working at the school district in 2008 but school officials didn't know about his praying until 2015, when a coach from a different school told them that Kennedy had asked them to join the prayer circle. Kennedy was put on paid administrative leave by the district after he refused to allow the school to pray in a way that didn't involve students. The coach was ruled against by both the district and appeals courts. Kennedy's case was taken up by the Supreme Court after it was previously rejected by the courts. Four of the court's justices signaled they were sympathetic to the coach's case, however, they wrote that the appeals court was correct.
The Supreme Court has previously ruled against instances of religion encroaching on public schools based on the Establishment Clause, such as a ruling in 1992 that held a school couldn't have a prayer during its graduation ceremony because it was an instance of a government entity sanctioning a particular religion. The court, which now has a 6-3 conservative tilt, has more recently been willing to rule in favor of greater religious liberty, such as a ruling last term that allowed Catholic adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex foster parents.
The Supreme Court is tackling a case.
The Supreme Court'spraying coach case was explained.
Both sides invoke religious freedom in the case of the praying football coach.
The right is bringing Christian prayer back into public schools.
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