Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 32.0

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

27 

Opinion of the Court 

does not equate to coercion.”  Town of Greece, 572 U. S., at 
589 (plurality opinion).

The  District  responds  that,  as  a  coach,  Mr.  Kennedy 
“wielded  enormous  authority  and  influence  over  the  stu-
dents,”  and  students  might  have  felt  compelled  to  pray 
alongside  him.  Brief  for  Respondent  37.  To  support  this 
argument,  the  District  submits  that,  after  Mr.  Kennedy’s 
suspension, a few parents told District employees that their 
sons  had  “participated  in  the  team  prayers  only  because 
they did not wish to separate themselves from the team.” 
App. 356.

This  reply  fails  too.    Not  only  does  the  District  rely  on 
hearsay to advance it.  For all we can tell, the concerns the 
District says it heard from parents were occasioned by the
locker-room prayers that predated Mr. Kennedy’s tenure or 
his postgame religious talks, all of which he discontinued at 
the District’s request.  There is no indication in the record 
that anyone expressed any coercion concerns to the District
about the quiet, postgame prayers that Mr. Kennedy asked 
to continue and that led to his suspension.  Nor is there any 
record evidence that students felt pressured to participate 
in these prayers.  To the contrary, and as we have seen, not 
a  single  Bremerton  student  joined  Mr.  Kennedy’s  quiet 
prayers following the three October 2015 games for which
he  was  disciplined.    On  October  16,  those  students  who 
joined Mr. Kennedy were “ ‘from the opposing team,’ ” 991 
F. 3d, at 1012–1013, and thus could not have “reasonably 
fear[ed]” that he would decrease their “playing time” or de-
stroy  their  “opportunities”  if  they  did  not  “participate,” 
Brief  for  Respondent  43.    As  for  the  other  two  relevant 
games,  “no  one  joined”  Mr.  Kennedy  on  October  23.    991 
F. 3d, at 1019.  And only a few members of the public par-
ticipated on October 26.  App. 97, 314–315; see also Part I–