- Decision-making power of Conservative judges 6-3; dissent of the liberals
- Coach’s rights to freedom of expression, religious expression cited
- Critics denounce “attack on church-state separation”
WASHINGTON, June 27 (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court, in the latest in a series of decisions extending religious freedom, ruled Monday that a Washington state public school district violated the rights of a high school Christian football coach who was suspended for refusing. stop conducting prayers with players on the field after matches.
Expanding the religious rights of government employees, the judges sided with Joseph Kennedy, who until 2015 served as an assistant part-time football coach in the city of Bremerton and has since become a famous cause for conservative Christian activists. The conservative judges of the court were the majority in the 6-3 sentence, with their dissenting liberal members.
The decision, written by Judge Neil Gorsuch, held that Kennedy’s actions were protected by his rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of expression and religious expression.
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Gorsuch rejected local school district concerns that in a public school setting Kennedy prayers and Christian-infused speeches could be seen as coercive for students or a government endorsement of a particular religion in violation of the called the First Amendment establishment clause.
Driven by its increasingly assertive conservative judges, the court in recent years has expanded individual and corporate religious rights while reducing the separation between church and state. The ruling was another victory for the court’s conservatives, following Friday’s ruling overturning the previous Roe v. Wade of 1973 who had legalized abortion nationwide. Read more
“Respect for religious expressions is indispensable for life in a free and diverse republic, whether these expressions take place in a shrine or in a field, and whether they are manifested through the word or with the head bowed,” wrote Gorsuch.
Judges overturned the decision of a lower court next to the school district, which suspended Kennedy in 2015 after he repeatedly challenged officials’ instructions to stop post-game prayers while on duty and dismissed his offers to use private places at school as an alternative.
“That’s so amazing. All I wanted was to get back on the field with mine,” Kennedy said in a statement from the First Liberty Institute, a conservative religious rights group that helped him represent him.
Rachel Laser, president of the United States for Separation of Church and State, representing the school district, said the Supreme Court has “continued its assault on church-state separation” driven by the interests of conservative Christians.
“As the network of religious extremists and their political allies behind this case celebrate the victory, we can expect them to try to expand on this dangerous precedent, further undermining everyone’s right to live as ourselves and believe as we choose.” , added Laser.
Joe Kennedy, a former Christian public high school football coach in Washington state who sued after being suspended from his job for refusing to stop praying with players on the field after games, puts on Bremerton Memorial Stadium in Bremerton, Washington, USA, March 15th. 2022. Meegan M. Reid / USA Today Network through REUTERS
Read more
Gorsuch said the district’s “retaliation” against Kennedy “was based on a misconception that it had a duty to explore and suppress religious observations while allowing for a comparable secular discourse. The Constitution neither obliges nor tolerates such discrimination.” .
The decision appeared to formally overturn a 1971 precedent that had described how to determine whether a government has violated the establishment clause.
‘A SERVICE’
In dissent, Liberal Judge Sonia Sotomayor said the court was once again paying “little attention” to the establishment clause when weighing on individual rights.
“This decision does a disservice to the schools and young citizens they serve, as well as to our nation’s long-standing commitment to the separation of church and state,” Sotomayor added.
Kennedy coached his alma mater, Bremerton High School, from 2008 to 2015. The school district said he “put on a show” doing prayers and speeches, invited students to join him, and went draw media attention while acting as a government employee. Some parents said their children felt compelled to participate.
Kennedy went on paid leave for his seasonal contract and did not reapply as a coach for the following season. His lawyers claim he “lost his job” because of his actions, suing in 2016. Kennedy filed a court order to be reinstated as coach.
This was the last court ruling this year to increase religious rights.
On June 21, he pledged public money to pay students to attend religious schools in a Maine case. On May 2, he supported a Christian group that sought to hoist a flag framed with a cross in Boston City Hall. On March 24, he ordered Texas to allow a murderer convicted on death row to have his Christian pastor lay his hands on him and pray audibly during his execution. Read more
In other rulings in recent years, the court broke down barriers to public money going to religious schools and churches and exempted family corporations from a federal requirement on employee insurance coverage for birth control. women for religious reasons. He also sided with a Catholic organization that received public money that prevented LGBT people from applying to be foster parents and supported a Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a couple in the United States. same sex. Read more
Register now for FREE and unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Report by Lawrence Hurley; Additional report by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham
Our standards: the principles of trust of Thomson Reuters.
Lawrence Hurley
Thomson Reuters
Washington-based reporter covering legal matters focusing on the U.S. Supreme Court, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for a team project on how the defense of qualified immunity protects police officers accused of excessive force.