Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 52.0

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KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DIST. 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

Court denied based on the circumstances surrounding Ken-
nedy’s  prayers.    The  court  concluded  that  Kennedy  had
“chose[n]  a  time  and  event,”  the  October  16  homecoming 
game,  that  was  “a  big  deal”  for  students,  and  then  “used
that opportunity to convey his religious views” in a manner 
a  reasonable  observer  would  have  seen  as  a  “public  em-
ployee . . . leading an orchestrated session of faith.”  App. to
Pet.  for  Cert.  303.    The  Court  of  Appeals  affirmed,  again
emphasizing the specific context of Kennedy’s prayers.  The 
court rejected Kennedy’s contention that he had been “pray-
ing on the fifty-yard line ‘silently and alone.’ ”  Kennedy v. 
Bremerton School Dist., 869 F. 3d 813, 825 (CA9 2017).  The 
court noted that he had in fact refused “an accommodation 
permitting him to pray . . . after the stadium had emptied,”
“indicat[ing] that it is essential that his speech be delivered 
in  the  presence  of  students  and  spectators.”  Ibid.  This 
Court denied certiorari. 

Following discovery, the District Court granted summary
judgment  to  the  District.  The  court  concluded  that  Ken-
nedy’s 50-yard-line prayers were not entitled to protection 
under the Free Speech Clause because his speech was made 
in his capacity as a public employee, not as a private citizen. 
443 F. Supp. 3d 1223, 1237 (WD Wash. 2020).  In addition, 
the court held that Kennedy’s prayer practice violated the 
Establishment Clause, reasoning that “speech from the cen-
ter of the football field immediately after each game . . . con-
veys  official  sanction.”  Id.,  at  1238.    That  was  especially
true  where  Kennedy,  a  school  employee,  initiated  the 
prayer; Kennedy was “joined by students or adults to create 
a group of worshippers in a place the school controls access 
to”;  and  Kennedy  had  a  long  “history  of  engaging  in  reli-
gious activity with players” that would have led a familiar 
observer to believe that Kennedy was “continuing this tra-
dition” with prayer at the 50-yard line.  Id., at 1238–1239. 
The District Court further found that players had reported