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KENNEDY v. BREMERTON SCHOOL DIST. 

Opinion of the Court 

prayer into his postgame motivational talks to his team on 
the field.  See ibid.  Mr. Kennedy further felt pressured to
abandon his practice of saying his own quiet, on-field post-
game prayer.  See id., at 172.  Driving home after a game, 
however, Mr. Kennedy felt upset that he had “broken [his] 
commitment to God” by not offering his own prayer, so he 
turned his car around and returned to the field.  Ibid.  By
that point, everyone had left the stadium, and he walked to 
the 50-yard line and knelt to say a brief prayer of thanks.
See ibid. 

On October 14, through counsel, Mr. Kennedy sent a let-
ter  to  school  officials  informing  them  that,  because  of  his 
“sincerely-held religious beliefs,” he felt “compelled” to offer 
a “post-game personal prayer” of thanks at midfield.  Id., at 
62–63, 172.  He asked the District to allow him to continue 
that “private religious expression” alone.  Id., at 62.  Con-
sistent with the District’s policy, see id., at 48, Mr. Kennedy 
explained  that  he  “neither  requests,  encourages,  nor  dis-
courages students from participating in” these prayers, id., 
at  64.  Mr.  Kennedy  emphasized  that  he  sought  only  the 
opportunity to “wai[t] until the game is over and the players
have  left  the  field  and  then  wal[k]  to  mid-field  to  say  a 
short, private, personal prayer.”  Id., at 69.  He “told every-
body” that it would be acceptable to him to pray “when the 
kids went away from [him].”  Id., at 292.  He later clarified 
that this meant he was even willing to say his “prayer while
the players were walking to the locker room” or “bus,” and 
then catch up with his team.  Id., at 280–282; see also id., 
at 59.  However, Mr. Kennedy objected to the logical impli-
cation of the District’s September 17 letter, which he under-
stood as banning him “from bowing his head” in the vicinity 
of students, and as requiring him to “flee the scene if stu-
dents  voluntarily  [came]  to  the  same  area”  where  he  was 
praying.  Id., at 70.  After all, District policy prohibited him 
from  “discourag[ing]”  independent  student  decisions  to 
pray.  Id., at 44.