<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1656438858539,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1656438858539,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_56438696", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1041556"} }); ","_id":"00000181-ab73-df08-a3b3-fb7f1b580000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedAfter huge losses on abortion and school choice, and likely losses on climate and immigration, the legal Left is understandably frustrated with how this Supreme Court term is playing out. That doesn’t excuse the false attack on Justice Neil Gorsuch’s integrity.
Vox and MSNBC have both published items falsely accusing Gorsuch of “lying” and relying on “falsehoods” to support his majority opinion in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. In Bremerton, the court held that a high school football coach who quietly prayed at the 50-yard line after a game did not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment.
Neither Vox nor MSNBC goes as far as to disagree with this holding. Instead, they argue that the holding doesn’t fit the facts of the case, and they accuse Gorsuch of lying about those facts. Both outlets are particularly impressed with the photographs that Justice Sonia Sotomayor included in her dissent. And photos are a rare occurrence in Supreme Court opinions.
But if you read Gorsuch’s opinion, it is clear he accurately describes the events in each of Sotomayor’s photos and puts them in their proper context.
The first photo in Sotomayor’s dissent is from a Sept. 11, 2015, football game and shows Kennedy leading players from both teams in prayer while holding up football helmets from each team. Vox argues this photo is particularly important because it demonstrates Kennedy was holding “one of his prayer sessions for public school students.”
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What Vox doesn’t tell you, but Gorsuch does, is that this photo was taken before the district sent Kennedy a letter asking him to stop leading these prayers after football games. Vox also doesn’t tell you that Kennedy complied with the district’s request.
About a month later, on Oct. 14, Kennedy then sent a letter to the district informing them that while he would continue not leading his players in prayer after the game, he believed he had a right to pray on the 50-yard line by himself while his team was singing the school fight song. The school responded with a letter forbidding him from any public prayer while he was on duty.
The next photo in Sotomayor’s dissent is from the Oct. 16 game and shows Kennedy praying at the 50-yard line surrounded by players.
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Aha! Kennedy broke his word and is leading his players in prayer!
But that is not what happened. Here is Gorsuch’s description of that game (emphasis added): “Mr. Kennedy offered a brief prayer following the October 16 game. When he bowed his head at midfield after the game, most [Bremerton] players were … engaged in the traditional singing of the school fight song to the audience. Though Mr. Kennedy was alone when he began to pray, players from the other team and members of the community joined him before he finished his prayer.”
Gorsuch doesn’t ignore that Kennedy prayed after the Oct. 16 game or that he was joined by others who wanted to pray with him. He does note, however, that no members of Kennedy’s team joined with him until after he was down praying.
Sotomayor acknowledges this later after inserting a final picture of the Oct. 26 game into her dissent.
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Sotomayor wrote (emphasis added): “At the October 26 game, Kennedy prayed surrounded by members of the public, including state representatives who attended the game to support Kennedy. The BHS players, after singing the fight song, joined Kennedy at midfield after he stood up from praying.”
As Gorsuch notes in his majority opinion, the district admits that no BHS players joined Kennedy in prayer after the Sept. 17 letter. In fact, when the district disciplined Kennedy after the Oct. 26 game, the “letter did not allege that Mr. Kennedy performed these prayers with students, and it acknowledged that his prayers took place while students were engaged in unrelated post game activities.”
It should be noted that literally no one complained about Kennedy’s prayers until after Kennedy was ordered to stop praying. The only reason the district got involved was that an opposing coach mentioned to a principal he thought it was “cool” that some members of both teams prayed together after a game.
If the supposed danger from letting Kennedy pray was that his players would feel forced to pray with him or lose playing time, then it should be highly relevant that the only players that actually joined him in prayer were from the other team.
Neither Vox nor MSNBC ever acknowledges this fact.
