Upholds the First Amendment protection of freedom of religion.
On Monday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in its decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District in favor of a public high school assistant football coach who had been disciplined for praying on the field after games. A Marine veteran, the coach had been in the habit of kneeling to pray after games since 2008. In 2015, the coach of an opposing team complained and Coach Kennedy was placed on administrative leave.
“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,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority. “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. The Constitution neither mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.”
Justice Gorsuch continued, “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For the Supreme Court justices as they finalize and release the remaining rulings of this term.
- With gratitude to the Lord for the Court upholding religious freedom.
- For the safety of the justices as protests and demonstrations continue after the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Sources: AP, DailyWire
