After winning at the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year, Washington state public high school assistant football coach Joe Kennedy will be reinstated after being dismissed in 2015 for praying on the field after games.
A joint stipulation filed in court earlier this month by attorneys representing Kennedy and Bremerton School District states that the coach will be reinstated to his former position as an assistant coach by March 15, 2023.
Kennedy will move back to Washington from his current residence in Florida.
As a devout Christian, Kennedy maintained a practice of going to the 50-yard line after games and kneeling in prayer, often with fans and players joining him.
In late June, the justices ruled in Kennedy’s favor with a 6-3 decision.
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion: “Kennedy prayed during a period when school employees were free to speak with a friend, call for a reservation at a restaurant, check email, or attend to other personal matters. He offered his prayers quietly while his students were otherwise occupied. Still, the Bremerton School District disciplined him anyway. Both the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s. … The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”