One particular three judge panel of the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals went back to their ultra-liberal historic way of thinking. They indirectly rule against Christians recently, by refusing to consider a landmark case. Once and Future President Donald Trump managed to pack enough of his own picks into the ninth that once in a while they actually side with conservatives. Not this time.
Federal Court snubs Christians
According to the Ninth Circuit Court, the Bremerton School District in Washington state can “ban Coach Joe Kennedy from taking a knee in brief, personal prayer after football games.”
He’s allowed to do it during the National Anthem as a protest though. It is “permissible for coaches to take a knee to disrespect the flag and the national anthem, but it is against the law for a coach to take a knee to pray.”
Lawyers representing the Christian side plan to appeal the appeal. They promise to “appeal and are confident that the Supreme Court of the United States will right this wrong.”
First Liberty Institute’s Chief Legal Officer Jeff Mateer is convinced that banning “coaches from praying just because they can be seen contradicts the Constitution.” The attorney is furious that “Coach Kennedy has been denied the freedom to coach for over five years, but he’s never been a quitter. We will fight on.”
The three judge panel were supported by virtually every liberal left on the court. The Christians had asked for a rehearing by the full 29 judge zoo, called “en banc.”
Three judges said no to that but they were joined by “Judges Callahan, Bea, R. Nelson, Collins, Lee, Bumatay, and VanDyke.”
Free Speech doesn’t apply
Even those rabid Democrats on the court were forced to admit, “the opinion in this case obliterates such constitutional protections by announcing a new rule that any speech by a public school teacher or coach, while on the clock and in earshot of others, is subject to plenary control by the government.”
“Indeed, we are told that, from the moment public high school football coach Joseph Kennedy arrives at work until the very last of his players has gone home after a game, the Free Speech Clause simply doesn’t apply to him.”
The case still has a long road ahead. SCOTUS already turned it down once but that was when Ginsburg was still around.
The Supreme Court “declined to review the case in January 2019, stating that more facts needed to be determined and instead allowed Coach Kennedy’s case to continue” through the system.
Like most cases of this magnitude, it got kicked back downstairs “for further review.” By January of 2020, the Western District threw the case out of court altogether.
Kennedy’s lawyers took it to the Ninth Circuit and the rest is history. Stay tuned for updates but they won’t be any time soon.
