WASHINGTON (Michigan News Source) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a football coach’s prayer is protected by the First Amendment.
On Monday, SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in favor of Joseph Kennedy, a former football coach from Washington who kneeled on the field after games. Justice Neil Gorsuch, who wrote for the majority, said “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
In this landmark case, Professor William Wagner and Great Lakes Justice Center represented NFL Hall of Fame athlete Darrell Green. They asked the court to abandon the “Lemon Test,” a test courts use to determine whether governmental action violates the Establishment Clause of the Frist Amendment of the Constitution.
According to a press release, the Great Lakes Justice Center said, “Praying on a football field does not establish a religious government…[and] praying does not… violate the Establishment Clause.”
SCOTUS specifically abandoned the Lemon Test to analyze cases under the First Amendment.
“When freeing human beings atrociously held as slaves, Lincoln invoked the favor of Almighty God in the Emancipation Proclamation,” Wagner said. “Today the Supreme Court reversed a legal rule that would have held Lincoln’s action, and praying, unconstitutional. In doing so, the Court returns the First Amendment to its true meaning.”
Leave a Comment
COMMENTS POLICY: We have no tolerance for messages of violence, racism, vulgarity, obscenity or other such discourteous behavior. Thank you for contributing to a respectful and useful online dialogue.