Rubio, Lankford, Hartzler, Colleagues Stand for Coach's Right to Pray

Press Release

U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) joined Senator James Lankford (R-OK), Representative Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), and colleagues in an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in support of Coach Joe Kennedy in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District. The brief asks the Supreme Court to review and subsequently reverse the Ninth Circuit's decision that allowed Coach Kennedy to be fired for silently kneeling and praying after high school football games.

"This Court's review is urgently needed to correct the Ninth Circuit's clearly erroneous interpretation of the Establishment Clause that upheld Respondent's firing of Kennedy and obliterates the Free Exercise rights of public school teachers and coaches," the lawmakers wrote. "The immediate and cascading effects of this case can scarcely be overstated--if the Ninth Circuit's holding is left to stand, certain school districts will be emboldened (and others will feel compelled) to curtail the Free Exercise and Speech rights of half a million public school teachers and coaches who work in Ninth Circuit jurisdictions, while seriously threatening those rights for the three million teachers and coaches in other circuits nationwide."