A federal appeals court described this mob as a “ stampede,” and the school principal said that he “saw people fall” and that, due to the crush of people, the district was unable “to keep kids safe.” Members of the school’s marching band were knocked over by the crowds.Īnd, contrary to Gorsuch’s repeated claims that Kennedy only wanted to offer a “short, private, personal prayer,” Kennedy was surrounded by players, reporters, and members of the public when he conducted his prayer session after that game. And Kennedy’s lawyer informed the school district that the coach would resume praying at the 50-yard line immediately after games.Īt the next game following this tour, coaches, players, and members of the public mobbed the field when Kennedy knelt to pray. And Kennedy did end some of his most extravagant behavior, such as the prayer sessions where he held up the helmets while surrounded by kneeling students.īut Kennedy also went on a media tour, presenting himself as a coach who “ made a commitment with God” to outlets ranging from local newspapers to Good Morning America. When the Bremerton school district learned of Kennedy’s behavior, it told him to knock it off - though it did offer to accommodate Kennedy if he wanted to pray when he wasn’t surrounded by students and spectators. One parent complained to the school district that his son “felt compelled to participate,” despite being an atheist, because the student feared “ he wouldn’t get to play as much if he didn’t participate.” Initially, he did so alone, but after a few games students started to join him - eventually, a majority of his players did so. Bremerton School DistrictĪfter games, Kennedy would also walk out to the 50-yard line, where he would kneel and pray in front of students and spectators. In this picture, from the school district’s Supreme Court brief, coach Joseph Kennedy holds one of his prayer sessions for public school students. Eventually, these prayers matured into public, after-game sessions, where both Kennedy’s players and players on the other team would kneel around Kennedy as he held up helmets from both teams and led students in prayer. In the real case that was actually before the Supreme Court, Coach Kennedy incorporated “motivational” prayers into his coaching. Coach Kennedy engaged in very public prayer Gorsuch’s opinion, however, describes a very different case than the one that was actually before the Court. Even under Lemon, a public school employee is typically permitted to quietly pray while they are not actively engaged with students. If the facts of Kennedy actually resembled the made-up facts laid out in Gorsuch’s opinion, then Kennedy would have reached the correct result. Instead, it decides a fabricated case about a coach who merely engaged in “private” and “quiet” prayer. Moreover, because Gorsuch’s opinion relies so heavily on false facts, the Court does not actually decide what the Constitution has to say about a coach who ostentatiously prays in the presence of students and the public. Instead, Kennedy announces a vague new rule that “the Establishment Clause must be interpreted by ‘reference to historical practices and understandings.’” Although the Court overrules Lemon, it does not announce a fleshed-out test that will replace Lemon. Kurtzman, the 1971 decision that previously governed cases involving the Constitution’s language prohibiting “ an establishment of religion,” has obvious implications for future lawsuits: Lower court judges will no longer apply Lemon’s framework to establishment clause cases.īut it’s not clear how those lower court judges should now navigate questions about the separation of church and state. The Court’s decision to explicitly overrule Lemon v. (Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not join a brief section of Gorsuch’s opinion concerning the Constitution’s free speech protections, but Gorsuch otherwise spoke for the Court’s entire Republican majority.)īecause Gorsuch misrepresents the facts of this case, it’s hard to assess many of its implications. He repeatedly claims that Joseph Kennedy, a former public school football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington state who ostentatiously prayed at the 50-yard line following football games - often joined by his players, members of the opposing team, and members of the general public - “offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied.” Bremerton School District on Monday, overruling a 1971 case laying out how the government must keep its distance from religion.īut Justice Neil Gorsuch’s opinion for himself and his fellow Republican appointees relies on a bizarre misrepresentation of the case’s facts. The Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Kennedy v.
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