“…He offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied…”

KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT [pdf], June 27, 2022.

Justice Gorsuch delivered the opinion:

…Joseph Kennedy lost his job as a high school football coach because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks. Mr. Kennedy prayed during a period when school employees were free to speak with a friend, call for a reservation at a restaurant, check email, or attend to other personal matters. He offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied. Still, the Bremerton School District disciplined him anyway…

In Justice Sotomayor’s dissent:

…Photograph of J. Kennedy standing in group of kneeling players…

A footnote in the dissent:

…The Court recounts that Kennedy was “willing to say his ‘prayer while the players were walking to the locker room’ or ‘bus,’ and then catch up with his team.” Ante, at 4 (quoting App. 280–282); see also ante, at 5. Kennedy made the quoted remarks, however, only during his deposition in the underlying litigation, stating in response to a question that such timing would have been “physically possible” and “possibly” have been acceptable to him, but that he had never “discuss[ed] with the District whether that was a possibility for [him] to do” and had “no idea” whether his lawyers raised it with the District. App. 280….

America as a Fascist theocracy in the 21st Century. Who would have thought?

Previously:

Apparently, it’s all in how one kneels (June 27, 2022)