A former Bremerton High School assistant football coach who sued the school district after he was ordered in 2015 to stop praying on the field after games lost his lawsuit Thursday, with a judge finding his religious rights were not violated. His attorney said he would appeal. In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton noted that the dispute between former Coach Joe Kennedy and the Bremerton School District showed the tension contained within the First Amendment: On one hand, an individual public school employee’s right to religious expression; on the other, the district’s right to restrict that expression when it violates the prohibition on the government favoring a religion. “Although the court is sympathetic to Kennedy’s desire to follow his beliefs, the former right must give way to the latter in this case,” Leighton wrote. Mike Berry , general counsel for First Liberty Institute, which is helping to represent Kennedy, said Kennedy was disappointed but undeterred by the ruling and would appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. “Coach Kennedy spent 20 years in the United States Marine Corps fighting for our freedoms as Americans, and he continues to do so as a coach and a […]
