High school football coach scores big win at Supreme Court over post-game prayer

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Fox News

The court ruled that a school district violated coach Joe Kennedy's First Amendment rights

Ronn Blitzer

June 27 2022

The Supreme Court handed a big win to a former Washington high school football coach who lost his job over reciting a prayer on the 50-yard line after games.

At issue was whether a public school employee praying alone but in view of students was engaging in unprotected "government speech," and if it is not government speech, does it still pose a problem under the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. 

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the answer to both questions is no.

 

"Here, a government entity sought to punish an individual for engaging in a brief, quiet, personal religious observance doubly protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment. And the only meaningful justification the government offered for its reprisal rested on a mistaken view that it had a duty to ferret out and suppress," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the Court's opinion. "Religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination."

Joe Kennedy was a junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach with the Bremerton School District in Washington from 2008 to 2015. He began the practice of reciting a post-game prayer by himself, but eventually students started joining him. According to court documents, this evolved into motivational speeches that included religious themes. After an opposing coach brought it to the principal's attention, the school district told Kennedy to stop. He did, temporarily, then notified the school that he would resume the practice.

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1. Score onefor The Good Guys!

2. This has been aGreat Session.

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[Geee]

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Been a good week!

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[Valin]

Coach Joe Kennedy Will Return to Football Field After Winning 7-Year Legal Battle Over Prayer

Virginia Allen

August 08, 2023

After a seven-year legal battle that ended with a victory at the Supreme Court, Joe Kennedy will be back on the field Sept. 1 coaching football and taking a knee in prayer.  

“I have been looking forward to this since the 2015 season,” Kennedy told The Daily Signal in an interview Tuesday. “I am praying for a fantastic fall for our Knights.”

In 2015, Kennedy lost his job as an assistant football coach in Bremerton, Washington, about 30 miles west of Seattle, for routinely taking a knee in prayer on the field after games. 

From the time he began coaching at Bremerton High School in 2008, Kennedy said, he made a covenant with God to thank him in prayer at the 50-yard line at the end of each of the Knights’ games. Some team members joined the coach on the field, and no student or parent filed a formal complaint about the practice. 

 

When the Bremerton School District learned of Kennedy’s routine, however, officials told him he no longer could pray silently after games, even by himself. But Kennedy kept the covenant he made with God, a decision that cost him his job.   

The football coach, deciding to fight back, filed a lawsuit. The Supreme Court, which heard arguments in the case, ruled in Kennedy’s favor in June 2022. 

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Jun 6, 2022

For seven years, football coach Joe Kennedy prayed on the 50-yard line after games. Students often joined him for the prayers. But in 2015, Kennedy’s Seattle school district learned about the tradition and told Kennedy he no longer could pray with students. Kennedy agreed and says he never prayed with students again.

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[Valin]

Sep 1, 2023

Coach Joe Kennedy speaks with Washington Examiner's Kaelan Deese about his winning Supreme Court battle after getting fired from Bremerton High School for leading his student athletes in prayer after each school's football game.

Kennedy opens up about the trials he's faced, his new book and film, and ultimately his return to the field to freely lead his team again in prayer.

Read the full story here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/po...

[Valin]

Sep 13, 2023 #Glennbeck #supremecourt #faith

Last year, former Bremerton High School Assistant Football Coach Joe Kennedy won his Supreme Court case that accused his school of firing him for praying on the field. The school then re-hired him, but he now alleges it wasn't without punishment. Coach Kennedy and his attorney Michael Berry of First Liberty Institute, join Glenn to tell the story and explain why Kennedy retired instead of waiting to be fired: "I thought I'd go out on top." They claim the school made sure Coach Kennedy wasn't so comfortable at work by refusing to issue him standard coaching gear, list him on his website, or allow him to take part in certain traditions.