Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 42

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KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DIST. 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

in prayer at the same time and location.  The Court ignores 
this history.  The Court also ignores the severe disruption 
to school events caused by Kennedy’s conduct, viewing it as
irrelevant because the Bremerton School District (District)
stated  that  it  was  suspending  Kennedy  to  avoid  it  being 
viewed as endorsing religion.  Under the Court’s analysis,
presumably this would be a different case if the District had 
cited  Kennedy’s  repeated  disruptions  of  school  program-
ming and violations of school policy regarding public access 
to the field as grounds for suspending him.  As the District 
did  not  articulate  those  grounds,  the  Court  assesses  only
the District’s Establishment Clause concerns.  It errs by as-
sessing them divorced from the context and history of Ken-
nedy’s prayer practice.

Today’s decision goes beyond merely misreading the rec-
ord.  The Court overrules Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U. S. 602 
(1971), and calls into question decades of subsequent prec-
edents that it deems “offshoot[s]” of that decision.  Ante, at 
22.  In the process, the Court rejects longstanding concerns
surrounding  government  endorsement  of  religion  and  re-
places  the  standard  for  reviewing  such  questions  with  a 
new  “history  and  tradition”  test.    In  addition,  while  the 
Court  reaffirms  that  the  Establishment  Clause  prohibits 
the government from coercing participation in religious ex-
ercise, it applies a nearly toothless version of the coercion 
analysis, failing to acknowledge the unique pressures faced 
by students when participating in school-sponsored activi-
ties.  This  decision  does  a  disservice  to  schools  and  the 
young  citizens  they  serve,  as  well  as  to  our  Nation’s 
longstanding commitment to the separation of church and 
state.  I respectfully dissent. 

I 
As the majority tells it, Kennedy, a coach for the District’s
football program, “lost his job” for “pray[ing] quietly while