Former Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy (First Liberty Institute photo)
A high-school football coach fired by his district for his brief, solitary prayers following his team's football games has won his free speech fight at the U.S. Supreme Court.
The 6-3 ruling included multiple concurrences and a lone dissent filed by the three leftist judges on the bench.
Written for the majority by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the opinion came in the case involving Joe Kennedy, who was dismissed by the Bremerton school district in Washington state over his prayers.
His case to the high court charged that Bremerton was "hostile" to his faith and prayers, which happened after the field had cleared after the end of games.
Kennedy had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the school's punishment and decisions by lower courts.
The court's majority held, "The Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal: The Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression."
"No one questions that Mr. Kennedy seeks to engage in a sincerely motivated religious exercise involving giving 'thanks through prayer' briefly 'on the playing field' at the conclusion of each game he coaches," the majority said. "The contested exercise here does not involve leading prayers with the team; the district disciplined Mr. Kennedy only for his decision to persist in praying quietly without his students after three games in October 2015.
"In forbidding Mr. Kennedy's brief prayer, the district's challenged policies were neither neutral or generally applicable. By its own admission, the district sought to restrict Mr. Kennedy's actions at least in party because of their religious character…"
More to come ...
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