The coach’s insistence on praying on football fields after games cost him his entire career, but God is indeed on his side after Supreme Court ruled in favor of him on religious freedom grounds. Now Joseph Kennedy will return to the position he lost in 2015.
Kennedy will be reinstated as the head coach of the Bremerton High School football team in Washington state on or before March 15, 2023, according to court documents.
The filing comes after the Supreme Court in June ruled 6-3 on ideological lines that the school district had violated his right to exercise his religion freely when it fired him for praying after football games. The decision overruled a lower court that had held the school was justified in telling the coach to stop praying with players on the field.
“Bremerton School District shall not interfere with or prohibit Kennedy from offering a prayer consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion,” the attorneys wrote in the filing, according to court records. Some details remain in discussion, with the filing stating, “The parties disagree on the specific wording of this portion of the injunction.”
Kennedy was first relieved of his duties as head coach in 2015. He sued, claiming that Bremerton School District had fired him in violation of his First Amendment right to freedom of religion, beginning a protracted legal battle with the district that culminated with the June high court’s ruling in his favor.
The documents also note the “Bremerton School District cannot retaliate against or take any future adverse employment action against Kennedy for conduct that complies with the terms of the Court’s Order.”
Kennedy served as assistant coach of the Bremerton High School football team before the controversy surrounding his post-game prayers. Since 2008 Kennedy has started the tradition of kneeling at the 50-yard line in prayer after each game. Some students voluntarily joined him at times.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority ruling in the June decision seven years after the events:
“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 religious observances even as it allows comparable secular speech,” Gorsuch wrote. “The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”
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The practice became an issue when a school administrator addressed the prayers in 2015, and Kennedy was placed on administrative leave.
Kennedy lost in both the district court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court turned down the case in 2019, sending the case back to the District Court, which sided with the previous rulings.
After the 9th Circuit Court again ruled against Kennedy, his legal team, First Liberty Institute, and Kirkland & Ellis, resubmitted the case to the Supreme Court in 2021, and it was accepted.
“This is just so awesome. All I’ve ever wanted was to be back on the field with my guys,” Kennedy said after the court victory.
“I am incredibly grateful to the Supreme Court, my fantastic legal team, and everyone who has supported us,” he added. “I thank God for answering our prayers and sustaining my family through this long battle.”
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