A federal court has ruled that a school district in Washington state was within its rights to dismiss a high school football coach after he refused to stop praying at the 50-yard line after games.
Football coach Joe Kennedy was initially suspended from his position as head football coach of Bremerton High School in 2015 after he refused a request from the school district to stop praying after games. Coach Kennedy has carried out the prayer ritual after games since 2008.
Kennedy brought a law suit against the school district in 2016 on the grounds that his suspension had violated his right to religious expression as a school employee.
His initial case failed in 2016, and he also went on to lose the appeal when it came up before a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2017.
He then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but it refused to hear the case stating that there were unanswered factual questions regarding the school district's reasoning for its decision to demand the coach stop praying.
This then meant that a lower court heard the case in 2019, and federal judge Ronald Leighton granted Bremerton School District's motion for summary judgment this week, agreeing with the original ruling that the Washington state school district was within its rights to prohibit the coach from praying on the field after games.
Judge Leighton felt that the school district had the right to restrict religious expression if it reasonably felt such an expression would create an illusion of the authorities endorsing religion.
Leighton wrote, "Although the court is sympathetic to Kennedy's desire to follow his beliefs, the former right must give way to the latter in this case."
The First Liberty Institute, a non-profit legal group representing Kennedy, has said it would look to appeal Leighton's ruling to the Ninth Circuit. First Liberty Institute General Counsel Mike Berry said in a statement: "We are disappointed in this decision, but we are undeterred in our mission to obtain justice for Coach Kennedy. For almost five long years Joe has had to miss coaching the game he loves. Joe has fought — first as a U.S. Marine, then as a coach — to prove that every American has the right to engage in individual religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of getting fired. He knows this fight isn't over."
In January, Kennedy visited President Donald Trump at the White House, where Trump announced that the U.S. Education Department would inform schools nationwide they could not prevent teachers or students from praying in public schools.
