No Pray to Play
On June 27, 2022, the Supreme Court essentially gutted decades of precedent by stripping away public school students’ religious freedom rights.
No public school student should be pressured to pray in school, but the Supreme Court just rejected that basic protection.
The case
Joseph Kennedy, a former football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington, repeatedly prayed with his team on the 50-yard line at the end of games, violating students’ First Amendment rights by pressuring them to join.
The school district tried to work with him to find options for him to have time and space for personal prayer while on the job, but he refused, demanding that he be able to pray at the center of the field, out loud, and with students. Kennedy sued the District.
Despite lower courts affirming that Kennedy’s actions undermined the religious freedom of Bremerton’s students, Kennedy’s lawyers, supported by a shadow network of religious extremists, have spun a deceitful narrative and pushed this case to the Supreme Court. Americans United—joined by religious and nonreligious communities alike—is fighting to protect the separation of church and state, the religious freedom of these students, and the constitutional rights of all Americans.
To read the more about what’s at stake, visit our legal case page.
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Kennedy v. Bremerton Timeline
2015: Bremerton protects students’ religious freedom
2016: Kennedy sues Bremerton School District
2019: Supreme Court declines to hear case
2021: Kennedy pushes deceitful narrative to Supreme Court
2022: The Supreme Court announced it would take the case
