PATHETIC: High school RETALIATES after coach wins Supreme Court battle over 1st Amendment

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A former Washington state coach and veteran who served 20 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Joe Kennedy, is no stranger to religious discrimination.

As the clock ran down at the end of his team’s homecoming game back in 2015, Kennedy took a knee to pray. As he did so and spectators stormed the field, his team gathered around him and got to their knees as well.

For many, it was a beautiful moment. But rather than congratulations to the coach on a job well done, he was fired.

Six years later, Kennedy took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he argued that the Bremerton School District violated his First Amendment rights.

He won the case, and the school re-hired him.

However, it hasn’t been without punishment, and he has now retired.

Coach Kennedy and his attorney Michael Berry of the First Liberty Institute joined Glenn Beck to discuss Kennedy’s story and why he chose to retire instead of waiting to get fired again.

Berry explains that Kennedy is “probably too humble to admit” that even though they pulled off a historic Supreme Court victory as well as a court order directing Bremerton School District that it cannot retaliate against him in any way, the district did so anyway.

According to Berry, administrators refused to issue Kennedy a coach’s locker, wouldn’t issue him a coach’s shirt like all the other coaches received, wouldn’t list him on the athletic department website, and refused to list him on the coaching roster for the game.

They also refused to issue him a play card before the game.

“They ostracized him, they made him out to be a pariah. They wouldn’t even let him participate in the traditional pregame meal with, you know, the opposing team coaches,” Berry continues.

“We’re still investigating,” Berry says, adding that “they may even have directed the players to stay away from him during the game and not have anything to do with him. So, really poisoning the well, you know.”

While Kennedy tells Glenn that he was expecting the retaliation, Glenn is shocked that the school did retaliate, considering that it’s against the law.

First Liberty Institute is investigating to see if administrators were retaliating, and if so, the organization is prepared to do what it can to fight for Kennedy again.

“We’re prepared to do what we need to do, you know, if we need to suit up again with Coach,” Berry tells Glenn.

Berry explains that as a Marine himself, he always has Kennedy’s back, adding that Marines “don’t fight alone.”


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Ranking the WORST Supreme Court Justices on Religious Liberty | Ep 482

Ranking the WORST Supreme Court Justices on Religious Liberty | Ep 482

Supreme Court to hear case of HS football coach fired for praying after games



The Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in a case involving Joe Kennedy, a former Washington state high school football coach who was fired for praying after games, his lawyers announced last week.

What are the details?

“No teacher or coach should lose their job for simply expressing their faith while in public,” said Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of First Liberty, the law firm representing Kennedy, in a press release. “By taking this important case, the Supreme Court can protect the right of every American to engage in private religious expression, including praying in public, without fear of punishment."

First Liberty added that by agreeing to take the case, the Supreme Court has "an opportunity to protect the right of every American to live out their faith, including praying in public, without the fear of punishment."

BREAKING! SCOTUS announced it will hear Coach Kennedy\u2019s case. This is the final play of a long legal battle. He was fired for silently praying on the football field. A victory could impact all government employees and also change the way courts consider religious freedom.pic.twitter.com/kYgl5SZ7pS
— First Liberty Institute (@First Liberty Institute) 1642203541

Kennedy, too, expressed optimism about his chances before the nation's top court, saying, “Six years away from the football field has been far too long. I am extremely grateful that the Supreme Court is going to hear my case and pray that I will soon be able to be back on the field coaching the game and players I love.”

What's the background?

Bremerton School District's decision in 2015 to fire Joe Kennedy — a Christian and 20-year Marine veteran who served as a high school assistant football coach in the district — drew national headlines and enraged religious liberty advocates.

Kennedy, who started coaching in 2008, exercised his faith by silently offering a brief prayer to God at midfield immediately after football games. According to his lawyers, Kennedy would simply drop to one knee and "offer a silent or quiet prayer of thanksgiving for player safety, sportsmanship, and spirited competition."

The tradition went on for years without any complaints and, in fact, was embraced by members of the community and players, who often joined him. Then suddenly, in 2015, the school district ordered Kennedy to stop, arguing his practice violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution. When he refused, the district terminated him.

Kennedy promptly filed lawsuits, claiming that his rights of free expression and religious liberty had been violated, but lower courts consistently ruled against him.

In 2017, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Kennedy "took advantage of his position" as a public employee. Then last year, the 9th Circuit Court again rejected his arguments, this time going so far as to conclude that since his attempts to challenge the district drew "national attention" they thus "showed that he was not engaging in private prayer" but "in public speech of an overtly religious nature while performing his job duties."

In 2019, the Supreme Court declined to take up Kennedy's appeal, though four conservative justices on the court remarked that lower court rulings against the coach were troubling. Now, with a bolstered conservative majority on the court, Kennedy has been afforded an opportunity to plead his case.

The court is expected to hear oral arguments in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District sometime in the spring.

Anything else?

This time around, First Liberty argued that Kennedy's case involves more than just a high school football coach's ability to express his religious views. Rather, it has far more wide-ranging implications for "practically everything public school teachers [do] or say during school hours or after-school hours."

If the district's termination of Kennedy is allowed to stand, it could effectively turn every form of speech into "government speech that the school may prohibit," lawyers claimed.

In an op-ed published by Fox News last year, Kennedy defended his ongoing legal fight, saying, "There are days when I want to give up and move on with my life. There are days when I don't think I can keep fighting this fight. But that's when I remember the hundreds of times I told my players not quit no matter the challenge!"

"I also think of the thousands of other public school coaches and teachers whose inalienable right to freely exercise their faith in public is at risk if the court decisions against me are allowed to stand," he added.

Coach Joe Kennedy Behind the Scenes Special | First Liberty Live! youtu.be