In my 33 years of advocating for religious liberty, I have never seen a year like this at the U.S. Supreme Court . This term, the Supreme Court decided three important religious liberty cases. Each case firmly defended the right of people of faith to be free from anti-religious discrimination at the hands of government officials. In each case, the government tried to defend its religious discrimination by relying on a mistaken understanding of the Establishment Clause. In each case, the Court rejected any interpretation of the First Amendment that treats people of faith as second-class citizens, or religious expression as a second-class right. First, the Supreme Court this week issued a truly landmark ruling in favor of Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach who was fired by his school district for kneeling in prayer at the 50-yard line after games. My firm, First Liberty Institute, along with former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement, represented the coach. The Court’s opinion grants a modest victory for the coach. It simply allows Coach Kennedy to return to a job he loves, coaching a team he loves. It allows him to continue to keep a personal commitment he made to God […]
