Press Releases

Arrington Statement on SCOTUS Decision Protecting Religious Liberty

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, Rep. Jodey C. Arrington (TX-19) issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Kennedy v. Bremerton School District religious liberty case.

“I am grateful and relieved the Court staved off another assault on our religious liberty,” said Rep. Arrington.

“It is a sad commentary on our society that the Supreme Court had to defend a private citizen in his personal capacity for praying to the very God the Declaration of Independence says created us and endowed us with all our basic human rights.”

“Thankfully, we have a majority of the Court who understands that Coach Kennedy, like all Americans, has the God-given, fundamental freedom to exercise his faith without fear of government reprisal.”   

“Justice Gorsuch said it best, religious expression is not ‘second class speech,’ and ‘teachers do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’”

Background:

• Joseph Kennedy lost his job as a high school football coach because he knelt at midfield after games to offer a quiet prayer of thanks.
• The Bremerton School District recommended against rehiring Mr. Kennedy on the grounds that he “failed to follow district policy.”
• Today, SCOTUS struck down the lower courts’ decision and asserted an opinion stating: “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”