Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 5.0

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

5 

Syllabus 

ernment role models for students are those who eschew any visible re-
ligious expression would undermine a long constitutional tradition in 
which learning how to tolerate diverse expressive activities has always 
been “part of learning how to live in a pluralistic society.”  Lee v. Wes-
iman, 505 U. S. 577, 590.  No historically sound understanding of the 
Establishment Clause begins to “mak[e] it necessary for government 
to be hostile to religion” in this way.  Zorach v. Clauson, 343 U. S. 306, 
314.  Pp. 24–30. 

iii. There is no conflict between the constitutional commands of 
the First Amendment in this case.  There is only the “mere shadow” of 
a conflict, a false choice premised on a misconstruction of the Estab-
lishment Clause.  School Dist. of Abington Township v. Schempp, 374 
U. S. 203, 308 (Goldberg, J., concurring).  A government entity’s con-
cerns about phantom constitutional violations do not justify actual vi-
olations of an individual’s First Amendment rights.  Pp. 30–31. 

(c) Respect for religious expressions is indispensable to life in a free 
and diverse Republic.  Here, a government entity sought to punish an 
individual for engaging in a personal religious observance, based on a 
mistaken  view  that  it  has  a  duty  to  suppress  religious  observances 
even as it allows comparable secular speech.  The Constitution neither 
mandates nor tolerates that kind of discrimination.  Mr. Kennedy is 
entitled to summary judgment on his religious exercise and free speech 
claims.  Pp. 31–32. 

991 F. 3d 1004, reversed.  

  GORSUCH,  J.,  delivered  the  opinion  of  the  Court,  in  which  ROBERTS, 
C. J.,  and  THOMAS,  ALITO,  and  BARRETT,  JJ.,  joined,  and  in  which  KA-
VANAUGH, J., joined, except as to Part III–B.  THOMAS, J., and ALITO, J., 
filed concurring opinions.  SOTOMAYOR, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in 
which BREYER and KAGAN, JJ., joined.