Bremerton High School football coach Joe Kennedy, who lost his job after praying on the 50-yard line with players following games, is returning to his position next season and will continue praying on the field.
Exactly how the coach will conduct that practice remains up in the air.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June reversed the call of the Bremerton School District that Kennedy’s practice of praying on the gridiron at the end of games was not allowed under the law. School officials feared the coach’s conduct could be seen as an endorsement of religion by the public school, thus violating the separation of church and state. The justices in a landmark religious liberty decision ruled 6-3 that the district violated Kennedy’s First Amendment right to free speech when it directed him to stop praying.
Attorneys for Kennedy and the school district have been unable to come to an agreement on how the coach’s practice of praying will take place once he returns. Both sides are headed to court this month to ask a judge to decide the matter.
“We believe the Supreme Court was fairly clear on what [coach Kennedy] is and is not allowed to do. I’m not sure the school district views it as that simple,” said Jeremy Dys, one of Kennedy’s attorneys at First Liberty Institute. “But ultimately, since we can’t agree together as two different parties, the court is going to have to make that decision.”
A call to the attorney representing the school district was not returned.
Attorneys for Kennedy and the district will present their descriptions of how the coach can pray at games to Judge Robert Lasnik in the U.S. District Court for Western District of Washington by Nov. 8.
The two parties have agreed that Kennedy will be reinstated as assistant coach by March 15, 2023, court filings say.
The case started when the coach refused to stop praying after football games. At times, the prayers took place with players on Kennedy’s team and the opposing team. When Kennedy continued his practice in the face of objections by school officials, the district placed the coach on paid leave and did not renew his contact.
First Liberty Institute, a nonprofit legal organization that advocates for religious liberty, filed a lawsuit against the school. The case worked its way through federal courts and eventually was heard by the Supreme Court.
Legal fees
Under the law when someone sues the government over infringement of their civil rights and prevails, they are entitled to recoup attorney fees, Dys said.
“You are looking at, I think, six different law firms or so that have had a part in this case over the course of almost a decade… It’s going to be a significant dollar amount,” Dys said, adding it could be in the neighborhood of “several million.”
As to whether the school district and/or insurance will be footing the bill for the multi-year litigation, school district spokeswoman Karen Bevers said, “The extent of insurance coverage for a potential attorney fees judgment is the subject of continuing discussions between the school district and its insurers.”
Life after BHS
After parting ways with the high school Kennedy moved to Pensacola, Fla. to help care for an ailing relative, Dys said. Kennedy has held a number of jobs, including working at a cemetery and a tractor supply company.
Kennedy, who has family in the Kitsap County area, has returned to Bremerton several times. “He was there a couple of weeks ago watching [Bremerton High] football games,” Dys said.
“We are looking forward to seeing what was inevitable when the court ruled [which is] getting coach back on that field with his guys and resolving that matter so he’s able to freely exercise his religious beliefs as the Supreme Court said he could on that football field after games.”
