Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 6

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

1 

Opinion of the Court 

NOTICE:  This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the 
preliminary  print  of  the  United  States  Reports.  Readers  are  requested  to 
notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Wash-
ington, D. C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order that 
corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes to press. 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 21–418 
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JOSEPH A. KENNEDY, PETITIONER v. 
BREMERTON SCHOOL DISTRICT 

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF 
APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT 

[June 27, 2022]

 JUSTICE GORSUCH delivered the opinion of the Court. 
Joseph  Kennedy  lost  his  job  as  a  high  school  football 
coach  because  he  knelt  at  midfield  after  games  to  offer  a 
quiet prayer of thanks.  Mr. Kennedy prayed during a pe-
riod  when  school  employees  were  free  to  speak  with  a 
friend, call for a reservation at a restaurant, check email, 
or attend to other personal matters.  He offered his prayers 
quietly while his students were otherwise occupied.  Still, 
the Bremerton School District disciplined him anyway.  It 
did so because it thought anything less could lead a reason-
able observer to conclude (mistakenly) that it endorsed Mr. 
Kennedy’s religious beliefs.  That reasoning was misguided. 
Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First 
Amendment  protect  expressions  like  Mr.  Kennedy’s.  Nor 
does  a  proper  understanding  of  the  Amendment’s  Estab-
lishment Clause require the government to single out pri-
vate religious speech for special disfavor.  The Constitution 
and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and
tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and
nonreligious views alike.