Members of Congress file amicus brief in religious liberty case

Client(s) Members of Congress

Jones Day filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, on behalf of several dozen members of Congress, in support of a football coach who was fired from his job as a public high school educator because he refused to stop engaging in a brief private prayer on the football field after games. The brief argues that the Ninth Circuit’s decision upholding the coach's termination is contrary to the text and history of the First Amendment, which protects his speech and religious liberty. It also argues that the Ninth Circuit wrongly turned the Establishment Clause into a weapon imposing special disabilities on religious exercise and speech, even though it was designed as a shield to protect individual religious liberty.

Joseph A. Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, No. 21-418 (U.S.)