{"id":1453525,"date":"2022-04-25T22:29:41","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T02:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1453525"},"modified":"2022-04-25T22:29:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-26T02:29:44","slug":"justices-pose-hypothetical-scenarios-in-football-coach-prayer-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justices-pose-hypothetical-scenarios-in-football-coach-prayer-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Justices Pose Hypothetical Scenarios In Football Coach Prayer Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjustices-pose-hypothetical-scenarios-in-football-coach-prayer-case%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1453525&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2022\/04\/1B2D83B9-1580-4934-A73E-DBB186B4258D_1_201_a.jpeg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.3.0\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">The Supreme Court on Monday heard a case regarding a high school football coach who says he was fired because he prayed after his team\u2019s games.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As The Daily Wire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/supreme-court-to-hear-case-about-football-coach-fired-over-praying\"><span class=\"s1\">reported<\/span><\/a>, Joseph Kennedy served in the Marine Corps and was an assistant football coach for the Bremerton High School (BHS) varsity team in Washington state in 2008. He began to kneel and pray after the football games, and some students decided on their own to pray with him. In 2015, a school administrator approached the coach about the topic after an opposing team complained about the prayer.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">An investigation was carried out and then Kennedy was put on <a href=\"https:\/\/firstliberty.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/20200722_Kennedy_Excerpts-of-Record_ER317-18.pdf\"><span class=\"s1\">administrative leave<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and banned from \u201cparticipating in any capacity in the BHS football program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Lower courts previously did not side with the coach, and the Supreme Court had previously decided against taking up the case, but then agreed to hear it in January.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">A main question in oral argument was whether the coach\u2019s speech was protected because he was praying on his private time, or if it fell under his role as a coach at a public school, and therefore, would not be protected speech.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">During the questioning, it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/04\/25\/us\/politics\/supreme-court-prayer-football-coach.html\"><span class=\"s1\">appeared<\/span><\/a> that the high court might be leaning towards the coach\u2019s side in the case, as the justices presented complex hypothetical situations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Paul D. Clement, one of Kennedy\u2019s lawyers, told Justice Clarence Thomas that they are pursuing both a free speech claim and a free exercise claim.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Clement <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/oral_arguments\/argument_transcripts\/2021\/21-418_3e04.pdf\"><span class=\"s1\">pressed<\/span><\/a> that the school was concerned with the endorsement of a religion rather than the coercion of students, noting that the school district fired Kennedy over endorsement worries.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">He said Kennedy\u2019s suspension violated the First Amendment and \u201cignored\u2026precedents that make clear that a school does not endorse private religious speech just because it fails to censure it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Justice Neil Gorsuch wondered what should be done about the fact that \u201c[m]any school districts and municipalities around the country continue to operate on this endorsement idea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Clement noted that because school districts \u201ccontinue to make this mistake\u201d is a reason that endorsement cases should be overruled.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked about players who are afraid that if they don\u2019t participate, they won\u2019t be as favorable to the coach.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Clement pointed out how that type of concern isn\u2019t specific to religion, with which Kavanaugh agreed, but the justice also pointed out how it\u2019s hard to deal with the suspicion that parents will inevitably have that their child wasn\u2019t picked for something because of his or her lack of participation in the prayers.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Justice Amy Coney Barrett presented a scenario in which the coach ran a Christian youth group, and players might feel pushed to participate because they thought they would get more time on the field.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Clement said the school could create a neutral policy if there was a concern with the group, but added, \u201cat a certain point, the responsibility of the school is to teach the important lesson that private speech is protected even for teachers and coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies for breaking news, investigative reporting, sports, podcasts, in-depth analysis, books, and entertainment for a reason: because we believe in what we do. We believe in our country, in the value of truth and the freedom to speak it, and in the right to challenge tyranny wherever we see it. Believe the same? <\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/utm.io\/ueuP8\"><span class=\"s2\"><i>Become a member now and join our mission<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Supreme Court on Monday heard a case regarding a high school football coach who says he was fired because he prayed after his team\u2019s games.\u00a0As The Daily Wire reported,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":1480462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1453525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1453525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1480462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1453525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1453525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1453525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}