TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Court Sides with Football Coach Who Prayed with Students

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 27, 2022
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 6-3 in favor of a high school football coach who lost his job because of his post-game prayers at the 50-yard line. By a vote of 6-3, the justices ruled that Joseph Kennedy’s conduct was protected by the First Amendment, SCOTUSblog reports. Writing for the court, Justice Neil Gorsuch said that the school district’s prohibition on prayer targeted Kennedy’s religious conduct, rather than applying a neutral rule, and that the prayers were conducted during a time when other coaching staff were “free to engage in all manner of private speech.” As for the peer pressure students might feel, Gorsuch wrote: “Learning how to tolerate speech or prayer of all kinds is ‘part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society,’ a trait of character essential to ‘a tolerant citizenry.’” The three dissenting judges said Gorsuch had “misconstrue[d] the facts” of the case, depicting Kennedy’s prayers as “private and quiet” when the prayers had actually caused “severe disruption to school events.”

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