What Is an Establishment of Religion?

Though all eyes are understandably focused on whether the Supreme Court will overturn Roe and Casey, the justices will also soon decide a significant establishment clause case. In April, the Court heard oral arguments in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, a case involving a football coach at a public high school who lost his job after repeatedly kneeling on the 50-yard line in post-game prayer. Given the Court's current composition, many expect the coach to prevail. But whether his win amounts to a lasting victory for religious liberty will depend on if the Court overturns its long-standing "wall of separation" precedents that promote government hostility toward religion. That larger victory, by no means assured, would require the Court's most conservative and originalist justices to adopt a more persuasive account of what constitutes a prohibited establishment of religion.