Friday Night Lights meets Supreme Court: Will religious freedom get the game ball?

Many of our subscribers are school districts or public employers whose employment law issues sometimes diverge from those of private businesses. Here is one: Government employers must respect employees’ First Amendment rights to free speech and religious expression. Private employers have no such legal duty. The contours of the rights (essentially to be free from employer retaliation for exercising them) is a matter of a lot of litigation. An employee’s rights must be balanced, however, with the government’s duty not to take actions that would seem to endorse a religion. On January 14, the U.S. Supreme Court said it would enter the ongoing fray yet again in a case in which the two values are in competition.

‘It’s game time!’

Joseph Kennedy, a devout Christian, was a high school teacher and football coach in Bremerton, Washington. After each game concluded, he would walk to the 50-yard line and offer up a silent prayer of thanksgiving. Activities would be happening around him, including the traditional handshakes between the competing players.

Sometimes the players would join Kennedy in prayer. From time to time, he would give short motivational speeches to the Bremerton students (sometimes joined by the competitors), and the talks would include religious content. No students were required to join him.