Supreme Court rules in favor of Washington football coach who prayed on field

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach who sought to kneel and pray on the field after games.

The court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that former high school football coach Joe Kennedy’s prayer was protected under the First Amendment.

“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion.

Kennedy was put on leave in 2016 after he continued to pray at midfield after the Bremerton School District in Washington warned him it might open the school system up to a lawsuit.

He was told his prayers could not be conducted alongside students, and that any of his personal religious observances needed to be done in such a way that they could not be seen as encouragement.

Kennedy had begun praying by himself in 2008, eventually allowing students to join in with him. He eventually led prayers in the locker room.