The Supreme Court on Monday is taking up a case regarding religious freedom in which a former high school football coach claims the school district violated his rights after they pushed for him to not pray after games.
Joseph Kennedy, a former coach at Bremerton High School in Washington State, had a long history of kneeling at the center of the football field immediately following games and leading the students in prayer since he was hired in 2008.
In 2015, the school district learned of the practice and requested Kennedy stop or find a private location to continue it – a request he has said was in violation of his religious freedom.
“I was just doing the free exercise of my religion and wasn’t going to go hide it because I work for the government,” he told NBC News. “No one in America should have to hide who they are or that they have faith.”
Kennedy continued to pray at the 50-yard-line and was then placed on paid leave. After his contract expired, the former coach did not reapply to extend it.
Kennedy never required or asked any players or students to pray, according to the Associated Press, which reported that during his time as coach, he also led the team in prayer before games in the locker room.
While Kennedy has claimed the request from the district was in violation of his rights, lower federal courts ruled that the prayers were not protected by the First Amendment as he was acting as a public employee, describing his conduct as a “public speech of an overtly religious nature while performing his job duties.”
Kennedy’s legal team is urging the Supreme Court to find that his prayers fall under religious freedom and did not come from him “as a mouthpiece for the school district,” according to his court filing obtained by NBC News.
“Schools cannot define the job duties of teachers and coaches to be so all-encompassing as to deny them all rights to individual expression on school grounds,” the filing reads.
The Supreme Court is expected to release a decision in the case this summer.
