Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 73.0

Cite as:  597 U. S. ____ (2022) 

33 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

fend,  and  Kennedy’s  final  three  prayers,  which  BHS  stu-
dents did not join, but student peers from the other teams 
did.  See ante, at 26 (distinguishing Kennedy’s prior prac-
tice and focusing narrowly on “three prayers . . . in October 
2015”).  As discussed above, see supra, at 18, this mode of 
analysis contravenes precedent by “turn[ing] a blind eye to
the context in which [Kennedy’s practice] arose,” Santa Fe, 
530 U. S., at 315.9  This Court’s precedents require a more
nuanced inquiry into the realities of coercion in the specific 
school  context  concerned  than  the  majority  recognizes  to-
day.  The question before the Court is not whether a coach
taking a knee to pray on the field would constitute an Es-
tablishment Clause violation in any and all circumstances.
It is whether permitting Kennedy to continue a demonstra-
tive prayer practice at the center of the football field after 
years of inappropriately leading students in prayer in the 
same  spot,  at  that  same  time,  and  in  the  same  manner,
which led students to feel compelled to join him, violates the 
Establishment Clause.  It does. 

Having  disregarded  this  context,  the  Court  finds  Ken-
nedy’s three-game practice distinguishable from precedent 

—————— 

9 The Court claims that Kennedy’s “past prayer practices” should not 
be seen to “taint” his current ones by again turning to Town of Greece v. 
Galloway, the town assembly prayer case.  Ante, at 30, n. 7.  In the pas-
sage the Court cites, Town of Greece concluded that “two remarks” by two 
different “guest minister[s]” on two isolated occasions did not constitute 
a “pattern of prayers that over time denigrate, proselytize, or betray an
impermissible  government  purpose.”    572  U. S.,  at  585.    As  Town  of 
Greece  itself  emphasizes,  the  school  context  presents  Establishment 
Clause concerns distinct from those raised in a town meeting for “mature
adults.”  Id., at 590 (plurality opinion).  See supra, at 15.  In any event, 
Kennedy’s yearslong “past prayer practices” constituted an established
pattern, not an isolated occasion, and he hardly “abandoned” the prac-
tice.  Ante, at 30, n. 7.  As his October 14 letter and subsequent actions 
made clear, Kennedy attempted to hew as closely to his past practice as
possible, taking a knee at the same time and place as previously, and in
the same manner that initially drew students to join him and by improp-
erly permitting spectators to join him on the field.