Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 8

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

3 

Opinion of the Court 

at  63–64.    It  seems  the  District’s  superintendent  first
learned of them only in September 2015, after an employee 
from  another  school  commented  positively  on  the  school’s 
practices to Bremerton’s principal.  See id., at 109, 229.  At 
that point, the District reacted quickly.  On September 17, 
the  superintendent  sent  Mr.  Kennedy  a  letter.  In  it,  the 
superintendent  identified  “two  problematic  practices”  in
which Mr. Kennedy had engaged.  App. 40.  First, Mr. Ken-
nedy  had  provided  “inspirational  talk[s]”  that  included 
“overtly  religious  references”  likely  constituting  “prayer”
with the students “at midfield following the completion of 
. . . game[s].”  Ibid.  Second, he had led “students and coach-
ing staff in a prayer” in the locker-room tradition that “pre-
dated [his] involvement with the program.”  Id., at 41. 

The District explained that it sought to establish “clear 
parameters” “going forward.”  Ibid.  It instructed Mr. Ken-
nedy to avoid any motivational “talks with students” that
“include[d]  religious  expression,  including  prayer,”  and  to
avoid “suggest[ing], encourag[ing] (or discourag[ing]), or su-
pervis[ing]”  any  prayers  of  students,  which  students  re-
mained  free  to  “engage  in.”  Id.,  at  44.  The  District  also 
explained that any religious activity on Mr. Kennedy’s part
must be “nondemonstrative (i.e., not outwardly discernible
as religious activity)” if “students are also engaged in reli-
gious conduct” in order to “avoid the perception of endorse-
ment.”  Id., at 45.  In offering these directives, the District
appealed  to  what  it  called  a  “direct  tension  between”  the 
“Establishment Clause” and “a school employee’s [right to] 
free[ly]  exercise”  his  religion.  Id.,  at  43.  To  resolve  that 
“tension,”  the  District  explained,  an  employee’s  free  exer-
cise rights “must yield so far as necessary to avoid school 
endorsement of religious activities.”  Ibid. 

After  receiving  the  District’s  September  17  letter,  Mr. 
Kennedy  ended  the  tradition,  predating  him,  of  offering 
locker-room prayers.  Id., at 40–41, 77, 170–172.  He also 
ended  his  practice  of  incorporating  religious references or