Neil Gorsuch ‘Misconstrues The Facts’ In School Prayer Case

The conservative Supreme Court supermajority ruled on Monday that public school employees may offer public religious prayers while working on school property.

The 6-3 decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch and joined by the other five conservative justices, overrules a 1971 decision that laid out how the government should act to keep itself separated from the promotion of religion.

The decision accomplishes this by echoing the tale told by Joseph Kennedy, a high school junior varsity football coach and varsity assistant coach for the Bremerton School District in Washington state, who was fired from his job in 2015.

Kennedy’s story paints a picture of a coach who only wanted to conduct his own private prayer after his team’s games while seeking no attention from his players or the public.

This story, however, “misconstrues the facts,” as Justice Sonia Sotomayor noted in her dissent. It buys hook, line and sinker what 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Milan Smith, a George W. Bush appointee, declared a “deceitful narrative” when the case came before him.

Kennedy was fired from his job, Gorsuch writes, “because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks.” And he did so “while his students were otherwise occupied.”

Kennedy had a history of praying in the context of football games ― Gorsuch acknowledges that much. He began by praying “on his own,” but “over time, some players asked whether they could pray alongside him.” The number of players joining Kennedy’s postgame prayers at the 50-yard line “grew to include most of the team,” though it fluctuated from game to game. The coach then “began incorporating short motivational speeches with his prayer when others were present.”

The team also sometimes engaged in pre- and postgame prayers in the locker room. These prayers were a “school tradition” predating Kennedy’s tenure, Gorsuch states.

In September 2015, the school learned of Kennedy’s prayers “after an employee from another school commented positively on the school’s practices to Bremerton’s principal.” On Sept. 17 of that year, the school superintendent sent a letter to Kennedy telling him to cease leading prayers in the locker room and at the 50-yard line after games, noting that his “inspirational talk[s]” included “overtly religious references.”

Kennedy stopped leading prayers immediately after he received the superintendent’s letter. But after…