Supreme Court Accused Of Starting A 'Theocracy' Following Public School Prayer Ruling In Another Controversial And Memeable Decision

A Supreme Court decision in the case Kennedy v. Bremerton School Distrct announced earlier today has catapulted religion and religious memes to the top of Twitter.

The case is a dispute between a public high school football coach who led prayers after games and the school district that employed him. The district told the coach, Joseph Kennedy, to stop because it believed his prayers violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which forbids the government and its employees from promoting or establishing any one religion. Kennedy refused to stop the prayers, leading to a local controversy and his eventual firing.

Kennedy sued the school district for violating his free speech rights. A lower court sided with the school district, finding that Kennedy’s prayers actually did violate the Establishment Clause, but the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, thought otherwise.

i wish every news agency running a story on #scotus ruling in kennedy v bremerton about coach's "right to private, quiet prayer while players are otherwise occupied" would also run these pictures pic.twitter.com/8fgr1JU3dr

— вяуαη ρ. кєℓℓєу (@bryankelleybpk) June 27, 2022

The six conservatives on the court, led by Justice Neil Gorsuch, held that religious expressions like Mr. Kennedy’s in public schools should be allowed. This follows a ruling last week that allowed private religious schools to receive public funding.

Many on Twitter wondered whether the ruling would be different if Kennedy were a Muslim or a Jew rather than a Christian.

nahhh I love how “Muslim or Jewish” is trending rn because people are listing the only other two religions they’ve ever heard of in response to this https://t.co/rxKofnmeSE

— Sid ⭐️⭐️ (Cucho ANNOUNCED) (@ZelarayanEra) June 27, 2022

“Wow, imagine if the coach was Muslim or Jewish.” pic.twitter.com/n4lVd9ryp5

— “Max” (@MaxNordau) June 27, 2022

Really want to see what SCOTUS would do if a public school principal got on the intercom to recite the Adhan 5 times a day. Lets see that case! 🙄We know this ruling doesn't apply to muslim or jewish or any other faiths. Its just straight up white evangelical fascism

— Chuck Todd's shamble bangs (@Drea_got_rage) June 27, 2022

Supreme Court opens way for rousing chants of "Allahu Akbar!" before high school sporting events https://t.co/ajjkFKmgrg

— David Frum (@davidfrum) June 27, 2022

Many are throwing around the phrase “Christofascist” to describe the reasoning and agenda of the conservative majority. The Court has continually sided with the organized Christian right on issues like abortion and Establishment Clause cases.

If Coach Kennedy were named Coach Akbar and he had brought a prayer blanket to the 50 yard line to pray after a game, I’ve got a 401(k) that says this illegitimate, Christofascist SCOTUS rules 6-3 against him.

— Lestje B. Juddged (@JuddgyOne) June 27, 2022

Justice Amy Coney Barrett has controversially been involved with a secretive Christian organization that some observers term a “cult.” The phrase “theocracy” trended on Twitter today, along with several other hashtags relating to the controversy, as people discussed their thoughts about the future of America.

holy fucking shit, I don't remember voting for a theocracy

— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) June 27, 2022

Some compared Kennedy’s football field prayers to Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling controversy to raise awareness about police violence against Black people.

The same people praising a high school coach for taking a knee on a football field criticized Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee on a football field.

— KD 📚🌎🌊🇺🇸🌻 (@kdnerak33) June 27, 2022

The dissent opinion by Justice Sonia Sotomayor received a lot of attention as well, particularly for lines that criticized the majority and for including photographs that show Justice Gorsuch, who wrote the opinion for the majority, mischaracterized Kennedy’s prayers as “private.”

I always read dissents first.Sonia Sotomayor is calling motherfuckers out:"The Court reverses course today for one reason and one reason only: because the composition of this Court has changed." ya burnt.

— ⚓️Imani Two-Kitchens Gandy⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) June 24, 2022

Sotomayor, dissenting: "The court sets us further down a perilous path in forcing states to entangle themselves with religion, with all of our rights hanging in the balance. … Today’s decision is no victory for religious liberty." https://t.co/eC9C36Jd5v pic.twitter.com/12zHzvmam5

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) June 27, 2022

Gorsuch just blatantly lied in his opinion. (Unsurprisingly.) https://t.co/Vv6OaAuTbD

— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) June 27, 2022

An issue many brought up is the religious composition of the current Court: seven Catholics and two Jews. At the moment, the entire conservative majority are Catholics, which is not representative of the religious composition of America at large.

A popular tweet format about the imagined response of the Founding Fathers to current events has emerged in the wake of the Court's Roe v. Wade ruling, and the most-liked tweet using the phrase referred to Catholicism on the court. The tweet format riffs on the "originalist" approach of legal interpretation favored by the conservative majority, which claims the Constitution should be read and applied exactly as the Founding Fathers wrote it.

Originalism, frequently criticized by historians, rests on the idea that the original intent of the Founders is both knowable (arguably, it is not) and makes sense in the present day.

the founding fathers would be like what do you mean there are catholics on the supreme court

— gráinne mhaol (@strategerydept) June 25, 2022

them 6 judges in about 20 years: pic.twitter.com/tEY2GWv7Kx

— kold (@koldkorp) June 24, 2022