9th Circuit Denies En Banc Review Of Football Coach's Challenge To Dismissal For On-Field Prayer

Religion Clause ^ | 9/20/21 | Howard Friedman

[marshmallow]

In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, (9th Cir., July 19, 2021), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a sua sponte request for a rehearing en banc in the case of a high school football coach who insisted on prominently praying at the 50-yard line immediately after football games. A 3-judge panel upheld upheld a Washington state school board's dismissal of the coach. (See prior posting.) The denial of the rehearing however generated six concurring and dissenting opinions and statements spanning 92 pages, reflecting sharp differences. Judge Smith's opinion concurring in the denial of review says in part:

Unlike Odysseus, who was able to resist the seductive song of the Sirens by being tied to a mast and having his shipmates stop their ears with bees’ wax, our colleague, Judge O’Scannlain, appears to have succumbed to the Siren song of a deceitful narrative of this case spun by counsel for Appellant, to the effect that Joseph Kennedy, a Bremerton High School (BHS) football coach, was disciplined for holding silent, private prayers. That narrative is false.... [T]he reader should know the following basic truth ab initio: Kennedy was never disciplined by BHS for offering silent, private prayers.

[philled]

I have little doubt that if he chose to do it during the National anthem, instead of after the game , he would have been lauded rather than fired.

[Viking2002]

If they're praying at the 50 yard line after the game, shouldn't these whining, mincing thumb-suckers be halfway to the parking lot with their backs to the field, anyway?

[kiryandil]

To start the dance, Coach Kennedy got a squish Dubya judge [Ronald B. Leighton] in the western district of Washington.

Then, he got a three-judge panel of ringers: Dorothy W. Nelson [Peanut Boy/Senior Moment judge], Milan D. Smith Jr. [ANOTHER Dubya squish - confirmed on May 16, 2006 by a vote of 93–0], and Morgan Christen [Odiousbama judge].

The try for the en banc included Diarmuid O’Scannlain [Reagan judge] Carlos Bea [Dubya judge, but not a squish], and Lawrence VanDyke [Trump judge].

Sandra Segal Ikuta [another non-squish Dubya judge], Consuelo Callahan [Dubya judge, but not a squish], Ryan D. Nelson [Trump judge] Daniel P. Collins [Trump judge], Bridget S. Bade [Trump judge], Danielle J. Forrest [Trump judge] and Patrick J. Bumatay [Trump judge] all dissented from the denial of an en banc hearing.

[deek69]

With the Trump picks at least there is some form of intelligence on the 9th for once.