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1 1 (June 30, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehxz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional_______ RaResearch Service Kennedy v. Bremerton School District: School Prayer and the Establishment Clause June 30, 2022 On June 27, 2022, the Supreme Court released a 6-3 decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that significantly altered Establishment Clause jurisprudence. In ruling in favor of a high school football coach who wanted to pray on the 50-yard line of the football field after games, the Court announced that it had broadly abandoned use of the so-called Lemon test, which had been the basis for church-and-state decisions over several decades but had seemed to fall into disfavor with many Justices on the Court in more recent years. The Kennedy opinion described the Lemon test as abstract and ahistorical, and said that courts should instead interpret the Establishment Clause by reference to original meaning and history. This Legal Sidebar discusses the Kennedy decision and its implications for the First Amendment's protection of free speech and the free exercise of religion, as well as the First Amendment's prohibition of religious establishment. Facts and Procedural History The plaintiff, Joseph Kennedy, was a high school football coach employed by Bremerton High School from 2008 to 2015. While the parties disputed how to view the facts of this case, they agreed that the school suspended Kennedy based on his practice of engaging in post-game prayers in which he knelt at the 50-yard line of the football field and prayed audibly. The conflict began in 2015, when the school discovered that Kennedy was engaging in this post-game prayer practice, and also that he had previously led students in prayer before games and conducted overtly religious inspirational talks with students after games. According to the principal, one parent said his son had felt compelled to participate in those prayers out of concern for his playing time. Although Kennedy stopped these additional practices after the school expressed concerns about them, the school emphasized that he continued his midfield prayers and raised awareness about the practice through media appearances. At one October game, the school said this led to spectators rushing the field and Kennedy leading a large group in prayer. Kennedy, by contrast, emphasized that he had stopped the earlier prayers with students and did not expressly invite his students-or others-to join his later post-game prayers. He said he only sought to engage in solitary prayer. The school placed Kennedy on paid administrative leave based on his overt, public and demonstrative religious conduct while still on duty as an assistant coach. Kennedy also received a poor performance Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10780 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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