Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 49

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

9 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

the  local  police  and  to  post  signs  near  the  field  and  place
robocalls to parents reiterating that the field was not open
to the public. 

Photograph of J. Kennedy in prayer circle (Oct. 16, 2015). 

The District sent Kennedy another letter on October 23,
explaining that his conduct at the October 16 game was in-
consistent with the District’s requirements for two reasons.
First, it “drew [him] away from [his] work”; Kennedy had, 
“until recently, . . . regularly c[o]me to the locker room with
the  team  and  other  coaches  following  the  game”  and  had
“specific responsibility for the supervision of players in the
locker room following games.”   Id., at 92–93.  Second, his 
conduct  raised  Establishment  Clause  concerns,  because 
“any  reasonable  observer  saw  a  District  employee,  on  the 
field only by virtue of his employment with the District, still
on duty, under the bright lights of the stadium, engaged in 
what was clearly, given [his] prior public conduct, overtly 
religious conduct.”  Id., at 93. 

Again, the District emphasized that it was happy to ac-
commodate  Kennedy’s  desire  to  pray  on  the  job  in  a  way