In a ruling regarding the first amendment right to free speech, the US Supreme Court sided with a former Washington high school junior varsity football coach, Joe Kennedy, who was fired because he prayed with student athletes on the football field after their games. 

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the government could not punish an individual for engaging in free speech, even if it was a personal religious observance, which is protected by the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment.

Kennedy, while coach at the Bremerton School District in Washington from 2008 to 2015, would pray by himself after a game, but students started to join him in prayer. What followed were motivational and religious speeches. When confronted by the school district, after staff complaints, Kennedy ceased, but then resumed his speeches. 

Due to media attention, the school became concerned about security, as students sometimes stormed the field in support of the coach. 

Kennedy was told he could pray in locations off the football field, or alone on the field, but he insisted on continuing his group prayers on the field. Kennedy was put on leave from his coach position. 

The school district argued that the prayers were at issue because the coach was a “government official” and because his actions could coerce students to participate in fear of being ostracized from games. 

Kennedy’s lawyer told the court that firing the coach was a violation of his constitutional rights because Kennedy was engaged in “private” speech, not government speech, and the school was opposing his actions because the speech had religious intent. 

The conservative justices on the court sided in a vote of 6-3 with the coach, and said that Kennedy’s actions did not violate the separation of church and state.