A Washington state high school football coach who was fired for silently praying on the field after games has been officially reinstated after he won his Supreme Court case last June.
Coach Joe Kennedy’s legal battle with the Bremerton School District began in 2015. The district claimed that his prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. But the high court ruled that Bremerton School District actually violated Coach Kennedy’s First Amendment rights.
As CBN News reported, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 last June that the public school district violated the coach’s free speech and free exercise rights when it barred him from praying on the field after games.” Then a U.S. district judge issued an order in November instructing the Bremerton School District to reinstate him before March 15, 2023.
The order enjoined the school district to reinstate Kennedy to “his previous position as assistant coach of the Bremerton High School football team on or before March 15, 2023.”
Evangelist Franklin Graham said of Kennedy on Facebook: “I am glad to hear that Joe Kennedy has finally been reinstated as a football coach at the Washington state high school he was dismissed from for praying on the field after games back in 2015. His case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where last summer justices made a 6-3 ruling in his favor.
“This is great news! I hope that Coach Kennedy will continue to kneel in prayer—on and off the field—and that this win will protect and encourage others in the same situation!”
The court’s order also said, “Bremerton School District shall not interfere with or prohibit Kennedy from kneeling at midfield to engage in a brief, quiet, personal religious ritual during the period after a football game in which the coaching staff are free to attend to personal matters.”
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2022 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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