# Kennedy v. Bremerton *Kennedy v. Bremerton School District* (June 27, 2022, 6–3, opinion by [[Neil Gorsuch]]) held that a public high school football coach had a constitutional right to kneel and pray at midfield after games. The school district's discipline violated his Free Exercise and Free Speech rights. [[First Liberty Institute]] brought the case. ## What it changed The decision's lasting effect is not about coaches. It declared that the Court had "long ago abandoned" the *Lemon* test for Establishment Clause cases, and replaced it with an inquiry into "historical practices and understandings." Under the new test, the question is no longer whether a government act has a secular purpose or endorses religion. It is whether the act resembles what the founding generation understood an establishment to be. That is a far narrower category. [[Sonia Sotomayor]]'s dissent argued that the majority had misstated the facts. It included photographs of players and spectators crowding the field around the coach, a public and coercive group event rather than a private prayer. Critics count it as an example of [[Judicial Capture]] through a curated factual record. ## The Ten Commandments test Four years on, the case is doing the work its critics predicted. States passed laws requiring the Ten Commandments in public classrooms, openly betting that *Kennedy* had undone *[[Stone v. Graham]]* (1980), which struck down exactly such a law. - **Louisiana.** On February 20, 2026 the en banc Fifth Circuit (12–6) vacated the injunction against Louisiana's law, holding the challenge premature because no display had yet gone up. That ruling left as-applied challenges open. - **Texas.** In April 2026 the en banc Fifth Circuit (9–8) upheld Texas's S.B. 10 on its face in *Nathan v. Alamo Heights ISD*. The majority held that *Stone* no longer controls because it rested on *Lemon*. The eight dissenters said *Stone* is still binding precedent on the precise question. - **Supreme Court.** The Texas families petitioned on August 17, 2026 (No. 26-257), and the response is due October 28. If the Court takes it, it will decide whether *Kennedy* silently overruled *Stone*. This is the doctrinal opening the [[Christian Nationalism Lexicon]] and [[Anti-Sharia Movement]] pages track. A standard built on "history and tradition" favors the religious practices that were historically dominant. See also [[Carson v. Makin]] and [[Espinoza v. Montana]] on the funding side. ## See Also - [[First Liberty Institute]] · [[Christian Nationalism]] · [[Judicial Capture]] - [[Stone v. Graham]] · [[Carson v. Makin]] · [[Espinoza v. Montana]] - [[Neil Gorsuch]] · [[Sonia Sotomayor]]