A federal appeals court on Wednesday ruled against a high school football coach in Washington state who was suspended for kneeling in prayer at midfield after games.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Coach Joseph Kennedy's injunction ordering the school district to "cease discriminating against him," reinstate him as a coach, and allow him to pray after games, the Washington Examiner reported.
The panel said it was unlikely that Kennedy would be able to prove the Bremerton School District violated his constitutional rights, ruling Wednesday that he "took advantage of his position to press his particular views upon the impressionable and captive minds before him."
"We hold that Kennedy spoke as a public employee when he kneeled and prayed on the 50-yard line immediately after games while in view of students and parents," wrote Judge Milan D. Smith for the panel opinion. "Kennedy therefore cannot show a likelihood of success on the merits of his First Amendment retaliation claim."
The panel agreed with the district court that first rejected Kennedy's request for an injunction.
Kennedy was an assistant football coach at Bremerton High School from 2008 to 2015, and regularly led coaches and students in pre- and post-game locker room prayers. He also would separately pray after games at midfield, where students and parents could see him. During Kennedy's first season, several players decided to join his midfield prayer session.
"Eventually, Kennedy's religious practice evolved to something more than his original prayer," Smith wrote. "He began giving short motivational speeches at midfield after the games. Students, coaches, and other attendees from both teams were invited to participate. During the speeches, the participants kneeled around Kennedy, who raised a helmet from each team and delivered a message containing religious content."
An employee at a different school brought Kennedy's actions to the attention of the Bremerton School District in 2015. An investigation was opened to determine if Kennedy was following the school’s policy on "religious-related activities and practices."
The school district's superintendent wrote directly to Kennedy, saying that he was permitted to continue engaging in motivational pep talks before and after the games as long as they were "secular" and he would not suggest, encourage, or endorse religious activity, the Examiner noted.
Kennedy did not stop the ritual, however, and prayed at midfield after a game, despite the superintendent's direction. Coaches, players on both teams, members of the general public, and members of the media all joined him.
The school district then "received complaints from parents of band members who were knocked over in the rush of spectators on to the field" to join Kennedy after the game, according to the opinion.
Also after the game, "members of a Satanist religion contacted the district and said they 'intended to conduct ceremonies on the field after football games if others were allowed to,'" the 9th Circuit wrote. "Ultimately, the district made arrangements with the Bremerton Police Department to secure the field after games, then posted signs, made 'robocalls' to school district parents, and 'otherwise put the word out to the public that there would be no [future] access to the field.'"
The school district then suspended Kennedy because he did not follow its directives, saying his post-game prayer showed him "neglecting his responsibility to supervise the students following the games until the players were released to their parents," the Examiner reported.
Kennedy was suspended for the rest of the 2015 season but was still permitted to attend the games as a spectator. At one game, he prayed in the bleachers in his team's apparel.
Following the season, the athletic director recommended that Kennedy not be rehired because he "failed to follow district policy" and "failed to supervise student-athletes after games due to his interactions with [the] media and [the] community," according to the court.
Kennedy sued the school district, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
The district court rejected Kennedy's request for an injunction, and the federal appeals court panel agreed with that decision on Wednesday
"We conclude that Kennedy spoke as a public employee, not as a private citizen, and therefore decline to reach whether [the school district] justifiably restricted Kennedy's speech to avoid violating the Establishment Clause," Smith wrote. "Kennedy accordingly cannot show a likelihood of success on the merits of his First Amendment retaliation claim and is not entitled to the preliminary injunction he seeks."
"'While we recognize the important role that public worship plays in many communities, as well as the sincere desire to include public prayer as a part of [these] occasions,' such activity can promote disunity along religious lines and risks alienating valued community members from an environment that must be open and welcoming to all," Smith added.
Kennedy's case has gained national attention and has been covered by cable news networks. President Donald Trump even commented on the story while running for president, back in October 2015.
"Support Coach Kennedy and his right, together with his young players, to pray on the football field," Trump wrote on Twitter.