Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 11

6 

KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DIST. 

Opinion of the Court 

the “use of a silent prayer changes the equation a bit.”  Ibid. 
On  October  21,  the  superintendent  further  observed  to  a 
state official that “[t]he issue is quickly changing as it has
shifted  from  leading  prayer  with  student  athletes,  to  a 
coaches  [sic]  right  to  conduct”  his  own  prayer  “on  the  50
yard line.”  Id., at 88. 

On  October  23,  shortly  before  that  evening’s  game,  the
District wrote Mr. Kennedy again.  It expressed “apprecia-
tion” for his “efforts to comply” with the District’s directives,
including  avoiding  “on-the-job  prayer  with  players  in
the . . .  football  program,  both  in  the  locker  room  prior  to 
games as well as on the field immediately following games.” 
Id., at 90.  The letter also admitted that, during Mr. Ken-
nedy’s  recent  October  16  postgame  prayer,  his  students
were otherwise engaged and not praying with him, and that 
his prayer was “fleeting.”  Id., at 90, 93.  Still, the District 
explained that a “reasonable observer” could think govern-
ment endorsement of religion had occurred when a “District
employee, on the field only by virtue of his employment with 
the District, still on duty” engaged in “overtly religious con-
duct.”  Id., at 91, 93.  The District thus made clear that the 
only option it would offer Mr. Kennedy was to allow him to
pray after a game in a “private location” behind closed doors
and “not observable to students or the public.”  Id., at 93– 
94. 

After the October 23 game ended, Mr. Kennedy knelt at
the 50-yard line, where “no one joined him,” and bowed his 
head  for  a  “brief,  quiet  prayer.”    991  F. 3d,  at  1019;  App. 
173, 236–239.  The superintendent informed the District’s
board that this prayer “moved closer to what we want,” but 
nevertheless remained “unconstitutional.”  Id., at 96.  After 
the final relevant football game on October 26, Mr. Kennedy 
again knelt alone to offer a brief prayer as the players en-
gaged in postgame traditions.  443 F. Supp. 3d 1223, 1231 
(WD Wash. 2020); App. to Pet. for Cert. 182.  While he was 
praying, other adults gathered around him on the field.  See