Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Page Number: 57.0

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

17 

SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting 

endorsement.  For students and community members at the 
game, Coach Kennedy was the face and the voice of the Dis-
trict during football games.  The timing and location Ken-
nedy  selected  for  his  prayers  were  “clothed  in  the  tradi-
tional  indicia  of  school  sporting  events.”    Id.,  at  308. 
Kennedy spoke from the playing field, which was accessible
only to students and school employees, not to the general 
public.  Although  the  football  game  itself  had  ended,  the
football  game  events  had  not;  Kennedy  himself  acknowl-
edged that his responsibilities continued until the players
went  home.  Kennedy’s  postgame  responsibilities  were 
what placed Kennedy on the 50-yard line in the first place; 
that  was,  after  all,  where  he  met  the  opposing  team  to
shake hands after the game.  Permitting a school coach to
lead students and others he invited onto the field in prayer 
at a predictable time after each game could only be viewed 
as a postgame tradition occurring “with the approval of the 
school administration.”  Ibid. 

Kennedy’s  prayer  practice  also  implicated  the  coercion 
concerns at the center of this Court’s Establishment Clause 
jurisprudence.    This  Court  has  previously  recognized  a
heightened potential for coercion where school officials are
involved,  as  their  “effort[s]  to  monitor  prayer  will  be  per-
ceived  by  the  students  as  inducing  a  participation  they
might otherwise reject.”  Lee, 505 U. S., at 590.  The reasons 
for fearing this pressure are self-evident.  This Court has 
recognized  that  students  face  immense  social  pressure. 
Students look up to their teachers and coaches as role mod-
els and seek their approval.  Students also depend on this 
approval for tangible benefits.  Players recognize that gain-
ing the coach’s approval may pay dividends small and large, 
from extra playing time to a stronger letter of recommenda-
tion to additional support in college athletic recruiting.  In 
addition  to  these  pressures  to  please  their  coaches,  this 
Court  has  recognized  that  players  face  “immense  social
pressure”  from  their  peers  in  the  “extracurricular  event