First Amendment

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Globe with two ethnic characters holding symbolism for various world religions.
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Law & Courts Why Some Religious Groups Worry After Supreme Court Sided With Praying High School Coach
Concerns arise about equal treatment of students and employees from minority religious groups after a ruling on a Christian coach's prayers.
Evie Blad, June 28, 2022
5 min read
Joe Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Wash., poses for a photo March 9, 2022, at the school's football field. After losing his coaching job for refusing to stop kneeling in prayer with players and spectators on the field immediately after football games, Kennedy will take his arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, April 25, 2022, saying the Bremerton School District violated his First Amendment rights by refusing to let him continue praying at midfield after games.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of former Bremerton (Wash.) High School assistant football coach Joseph A. Kennedy that his post-game prayers were protected by the First Amendment.
Ted S. Warren/AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court Says High School Coach's Post-Game Prayers Protected by the First Amendment
The decision could have enormous practical consequences for school districts and their supervision of teachers and other employees.
Mark Walsh, June 27, 2022
9 min read
Image of the Supreme Court.
iStock/Getty
Law & Courts Supreme Court Strikes Down Maine's Exclusion of Religious Schools From Tuition-Aid Program
The justices hold that barring "sectarian" schools from the program for towns without public high schools violates the First Amendment.
Mark Walsh, June 21, 2022
7 min read
The Supreme Court in Washington, Dec. 3, 2021. The Supreme Court has turned away a plea from parents to block a new admissions policy at a prestigious high school in northern Virginia that a lower court had found discriminates against Asian American students.
The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Dec. 3, 2021.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Law & Courts Conservatives’ Checklist: U.S. Supreme Court Education Decisions to Overrule
Here are five education issues that could be targets for reconsideration if Roe v. Wade falls.
Mark Walsh, May 11, 2022
3 min read
Coach Joseph Kennedy outside the Supreme Court after oral arguments in his case. Sending one more pic of the lawyers on the other side in a moment.
Former Bremerton, Wash., High School football coach Joseph A. Kennedy addresses the media outside the U.S. Supreme Court after April 25 oral arguments in his case.
Mark Walsh/Education Week
Law & Courts Key Takeaways From Praying-Coach Case While Supreme Court Deliberates
There's plenty to unpack from the lengthy questioning in a case that could alter the First Amendment landscape for schools.
Mark Walsh, April 27, 2022
5 min read
Bremerton assistant football coach Joe Kennedy, recently placed on administrative leave due to his prayers on the football field after games, listens to the national anthem from the stands at Memorial Stadium in Bremerton, Wash. on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2015.
Joseph A. Kennedy, a former Bremerton High School football coach, listens to the national anthem from the stands in 2015 after being placed on administrative leave for praying on the field after games in Bremerton, Wash. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in his case to regain his job this week.
Lindsey Wasson/The Seattle Times via AP
Law & Courts U.S. Supreme Court Signals Support for Football Coach's Public Prayers
The case has major implications for the free speech and religious expression of public school educators.
Mark Walsh, April 25, 2022
6 min read
In this Oct. 16, 2015 file photo, former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy, obscured at center, is surrounded by Centralia High School football players in Bremerton, Wash., after they took a knee with him and prayed following their game against Bremerton.
Then-assistant football Coach Joseph A. Kennedy of Bremerton High School in Washington is surrounded by Centralia High School football players as they prayed following their game against Bremerton.
Meegan M. Reid/Kitsap Sun via AP
Law & Courts Coach Prayer Case Raises Big Free Speech, Religious Rights Questions for Schools
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether the First Amendment protects public post-game prayers by a coach.
Mark Walsh, April 20, 2022
11 min read
Participants with the Alliance for GLBTQ Youth march at the annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade on April 9, 2017, in Miami Beach, Fla. Republican-backed legislation in Florida that could severely limit discussion of gay and lesbian issues in public schools is being widely condemned as dangerous and discriminatory, with one gay Democratic lawmaker saying it’s an attempt to silence LGBTQ students, families and history.
Participants with the Alliance for GLBTQ Youth march at the annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade on April 9, 2017, in Miami Beach, Fla.
Lynne Sladky/AP
Law & Courts Is Florida's 'Don't Say Gay Law' Legal? A New Lawsuit Argues No
Activists say the law violates LGBTQ students' constitutional rights.
Eesha Pendharkar, April 12, 2022
5 min read
Books packed up in a cardboard box.
Patrick Daxenbichler/iStock/Getty
Law & Courts ‘We Must Protect This Right': Students Sue School District Over Banned Books
The banned books about race, gender, and marginalized communities include “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison.
Kaitlyn Alanis, The Charlotte Observer, February 18, 2022
2 min read
Flags are displayed as the Newberg, Ore. teachers gather with community members ahead of the Newberg School Board vote on whether to ban Black Lives Matter and Pride flags at the school in September, 2021.
Flags are displayed as the Newberg Education Association gathers with community members ahead of the Newberg School Board vote on whether to ban Black Lives Matter and Pride flags at the school, Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021, in Newberg, Ore.
Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian via AP
Equity & Diversity Pride Flags and Black Lives Matter Signs in the Classroom: Supportive Symbols or Propaganda?
Some districts ban Pride flags and Black Lives Matters signs in the classroom. Teachers are pushing back.
Eesha Pendharkar, January 25, 2022
8 min read
Former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joe Kennedy is in a conflict with the Bremerton, 
Wash., school district over his silent prayer after games.
Former Bremerton High School assistant football coach Joseph A. Kennedy stands at on the 50-yard line at Bremerton Memorial Stadium. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal over his dismissal for praying after football games.
Larry Steagall/Kitsap Sun via AP
Law & Courts Supreme Court to Hear Case of Coach Who Prayed After Games in Defiance of School District
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether school districts may prohibit private religious expression by public school employees.
Mark Walsh, January 14, 2022
4 min read
The Carson family pictured outside Bangor Christian School in Bangor, Maine on Nov. 5, 2021.
Institute for Justice senior attorney Michael E. Bindas, left, accompanies Amy and David Carson who flank their daughter, Olivia, outside Bangor Christian Schools in Maine in early November. The Carsons are one of two families seeking to make religious schools eligible for Maine's tuition program for students from towns without high schools.
Linda Coan O’Kresik for Education Week
Law & Courts Can Public Money Go to Religious Schools? A Divisive Supreme Court Case Awaits
The justices will weigh Maine's exclusion of religious schools from its "tuitioning" program for students from towns without high schools.
Mark Walsh, November 18, 2021
13 min read
Members of the Supreme Court pose for a group photo at the Supreme Court in Washington on April 23, 2021.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 2 heard arguments on whether a school board's censure of one of its members implicated the First Amendment.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times via AP
Law & Courts In Censure of School Board Member, U.S. Supreme Court Skeptical of First Amendment Claim
The justices weighed the free speech implications of a formal reprimand of a community college board member who violated board rules.
Mark Walsh, November 2, 2021
7 min read