The United States Supreme Court could deliver a ruling any day now on the case involving a former Seattle-area high school football coach who was fired from his job after he refused to stop praying on the field with his players.
The school district learned that Kennedy was praying with his team, and they told him that he could pray separately from the student. He declined to change his practice, was put on paid leave, and then filed a lawsuit.
Lower courts sided with the school district the last year. The case then went to the Supreme Court in April was many are awaiting the final decision.
The Washington Post reported:
Questions from the court’s conservatives indicated they believe the school district has misread the court’s precedents regarding government endorsement of religion and perhaps was hostile to such demonstrations.
Justice Clarence Thomas questioned whether Kennedy would have been disciplined if he had taken a knee during the national anthem to protest racism. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. questioned Katskee, legal director at Americans United for Separation of Church and State, about other political activism.
Suppose “when Coach Kennedy went out to the center of the field…all he did was to wave a Ukrainian flag. Would you have fired him?” Alito asked.
Katskee said the school district could discipline a coach for such actions because it “doesn’t want its event taken over for political speech.”
“Where is the school district rule that says that?” Alito asked.
“No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public,” Kelly Shackleford, president, and CEO of First Liberty said in a statement.
“By taking this important case, the Supreme Court can protect the right of every American to engage in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of punishment,” he added.
Paul Clement, a First Liberty attorney, said,” We look forward to presenting the Coach’s case, which goes to the heart of the First Amendment, to the Justices.”
“Joe Kennedy’s case, now six years after the events, has led to renewed optimism by the coach who still desires to return to the football sidelines.”
Kennedy said in a statement, “Six years away from the football field has been far too long. I am extremely grateful that the Supreme Court is going to hear my case and pray that I will soon be able to be back on the field coaching the game and players I love.”
