Illinois teachers’ unions on Monday criticized a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ruled in favor of a Washington high school football coach who lost his job after insisting on praying on the field. despite objections from the school district. Legal experts said the ruling calls into question decades of precedent that puts limits on religious expression in public schools.
Although the long-term impact of the decision is still unclear, the ruling could open the door to more religion in public schools, according to legal experts, although teachers and coaches warned not to interpret the opinion. too broadly.
Joe Kennedy, a former football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremberton, Washington, on February 7, 2022. On June 27, 2022, the Supreme Court ruled that Kennedy has the constitutional right to pray to the 50-yard line after his team’s victory. games. (Ruth Fremson / The New York Times)
“I think what this case does is raise concerns that specific schools or teachers feel brave about injecting more religion into the classroom,” said Rebecca Glenberg, senior supervisory attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union. Illinois, “but I urge you to be careful because … the other Supreme Court precedents regarding school prayer and religious coercion remain.”
The nation’s high court ruled Kennedy’s 6-3 decision against the Bremerton school district days after it overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark that protected the right to choose an abortion, which further provoked a polarized country.
Legal experts, unions and advocates of the elimination of religion from public schools mentioned the decision.
“It protects students much less from potentially coercive atmospheric pressures,” said Mary Anne Case, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “It makes it a lot harder for a student to feel and be safe being an atypical value.”
Kathi Griffin, president of the Illinois Education Association, which represents more than 135,000 teachers and staff, said the Supreme Court decision “erases the rights of our students.”
“It leaves our students vulnerable to religious coercion in their public schools,” he said in a statement. “The decision gives privilege and protection to a specific sectarian religious discourse, rather than putting our students first.”
The Chicago Teachers ’Union referred to a statement by the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, who said that“ Supreme Court extremists once again ignored the constitutional doctrine of church separation and the state”.
“As a union that represents educators who teach, train and support millions of students every day, we believe schools should be safe spaces for everyone,” he said.
The case was filed by Joseph Kennedy, an assistant football coach at a school in the Seattle area, whose contract was not renewed after he continued to pray after games on the 50-yard line, though the school district told him not to do so in 2015. The incident sparked a media storm and sparked a lawsuit in which Kennedy argued that his rights to free speech were violated.
The lower courts ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the school district, arguing that Kennedy’s actions ignored the district’s policy of preventing schools from violating the First Amendment clause prohibiting religious activity imposed by the school district. government.
Tensions around religious expression at sporting events have long since increased.
In 2015, Naperville Community Unit 203 School District banned team prayers at high school sporting events after a photo of players praying was made public.
In 2017, the Vandalia school district apologized after a coach participated in a prayer circle with students after a game, according to the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based organization that acts as a separation watchdog. of the church and the state.
Despite Monday’s decision, legal experts warned teachers and coaches not to incorporate prayer into school activities.
Briefing in the afternoon
Daily
The best news from the Chicago Tribune publishers, sent to your inbox every afternoon.
“It’s a very strange opinion because it works hard to distort the underlying facts,” said Andy Koppelman, a law professor at Northwestern University.
In the majority opinion of the court, Judge Neil Gorsuch writes, in a dispute between dissenting judges, that Kennedy lost his job because he “offered his prayers in silence while his students were busy.” Gorsuch wrote that students were not forced to join prayers.
“This raises at least some possibility that this decision, like many of the court’s previous decisions, will resolve this case without clarifying the law at all,” Koppelman said, noting that students who show pressure to participate in religious activities they could still prevail. under this judgment in future cases. “I wouldn’t advise football coaches who expect to intimidate students into praying to do so. It’s not clear the court will support you.”
In the dissent of the three members of the court’s liberal wing, Judge Sonia Sotomayor wrote that the court “misinterprets the facts.”
Sotomayor wrote that Kennedy had a “long-standing practice” of praying with students and that some students reported to the school district that they joined prayer because of “social pressure.” The dissent also said Kennedy spoke to reporters several times, causing disruptions that forced the school to incorporate additional security measures.
“It is interesting that the court does not show any methodological consistency in these areas,” Case said of a number of recent court decisions. “The court has yet to explain how only the rights it likes and the rest do not continue to be protected.”
mabuckley@chicagotribune.com