Lawyers representing a Washington state school district have asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a lawsuit from a high school football coach who was fired for praying on the 50-yard line, arguing the coach has moved to Florida so there’s no longer a conflict over his employment.
In a filing last month, lawyers representing the Bremerton School District said Joe Kennedy could not benefit from a favorable ruling from the high court because he no longer lives in Washington and wouldn’t be able to fulfill the duties of coaching the team. He was paid about $5,000 for his coaching.
They want the justices to remove the case from their docket. The court documents said Mr. Kennedy and his wife have moved to Florida while the lawsuit has been pending. The original legal battle began in 2015.
The school district also noted that Mr. Kennedy sold his Washington home and is registered to vote in Florida.
“Taken all together, the evidence strongly suggests that, as a ‘Floridian’ petitioner could not serve as or perform the duties of a Bremerton football coach,” the filing reads.
Lower courts had sided with the school district when the coach challenged his termination, claiming it violated his constitutional rights.
Mr. Kennedy was fired after praying on the 50-yard line after games. According to court documents, he would kneel and pray alone for 15 to 30 seconds, but sometimes students would join him.
He refused to stop praying after complaints, citing his First Amendment rights. He was eventually terminated.
The justices had agreed to review the lower court’s ruling.
The coach and his attorneys want the justices to keep the case on their docket.
Mr. Kennedy said he moved to Florida to help care for his father-in-law.
“In the course of one week in July of 2019, my father-in-law was divorced, received news that his son had been murdered, and was laid off from his job. At that time, we began exploring how we might be able to support him. My wife resigned her employment in the middle of the school year to temporarily move to be near him in March of 2020. I followed about a month later,” he said in a press release, addressing the revelation that he had moved.
His father-in-law suffers from COPD and is receiving cancer treatment.
“If the U.S. Supreme Court were to grant me the only relief I have ever sought from the beginning — to be able to return to the sidelines as a football coach at Bremerton High School — I would be back in Bremerton as soon as a plane could take me there. Our kids live in Bremerton. Our grandkids live in Bremerton,” Mr. Kennedy said.
His lawyers said the school district’s request to dismiss the case as moot suggests it is not “anxious to defend” the lower court’s ruling.
“This case is not remotely moot. Petitioner believes that he was unconstitutionally removed from his job, and he seeks a declaration of his constitutional rights and reinstatement. He remains ready, willing, and able to return to his job just as soon as his constitutional rights are vindicated,” they wrote in a filing.
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which represents the school district, said they wish the Kennedys well in Florida, acknowledging the coach’s family situation.
“Family hardships and obligations do not, however, change the Constitution. The Court shouldn’t hear this case, and it certainly shouldn’t change more than a half century of settled law to strip public-school students and families of their religious freedom,” Ms. Laser said.
Robert Tuttle, a law professor at George Washington University, said if the court wants to avoid weighing in on the religious liberty dispute, it could easily dismiss the lawsuit as moot, given the fact the coach has moved.
But he suggested there’s a handful of conservative justices that want to rule in favor of the coach.
“I have not seen a case where the lawyers tell such radically different stories about what is going on in the case,” Mr. Tuttle said.
The case is Joseph Kennedy v. Bremerton School District.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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