Join us in a conversation with Jeremy Dys, Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty Institute
Tuesday, July 12, 2022, at 12 PM (ET)
Dial 667-776-9181 (no code needed)
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court struck a blow for religious liberty and free speech by ruling in favor of a Washington State high school football coach who lost his job for quietly praying after games at the 50-yard line.
In a 6-3 decision in Kennedy v Bremerton School District, the Court vindicated coach Joe Kennedy and his eight-year fight for his First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and free exercise of religion. He was represented by First Liberty Institute.
Lower courts repeatedly had ruled against Kennedy, holding that public employees are not protected by the First Amendment when they engage in religious conduct that is visible to others. This absurd position was firmly booted by the court’s majority in an opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch.
He wrote that “a proper understanding of the Amendment’s Establishment Clause” does not “require the government to single out private religious speech for special disfavor. The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”
The ruling was just one of several late-session, historic opinions that included the overturning of Roe v. Wade, strengthening the Second Amendment, and clipping the wings of an out-of-control Environmental Protection Agency.
Where does this leave us in the fight to preserve free speech and religious liberty, not to mention respect for the Constitution’s original intent? Is this just the beginning of a new era of sound constitutional rulings?
Jeremy Dys, Esq., is Special Counsel for Litigation and Communications for First Liberty Institute and host of the First Liberty Briefing.
Dys earned his law degree from West Virginia University College of Law in 2005. After law school, he clerked for the Hon. Russell M. Clawges, Jr., chief judge of the Circuit Court of Monongalia County in Morgantown, West Virginia.
For six years prior to joining First Liberty Institute, Dys led a public policy organization where he led research and advocacy efforts on matters of life, marriage, and religious freedom.
Dys graduated from Taylor University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude degree in Communication Studies, with minors in U.S. History and Philosophy.
During his undergraduate career, Dys studied at the American Studies Program in Washington, D.C., where he interned with the late David Orgon Coolidge as part of the Marriage Law Project of the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
In support of his clients, Dys has made numerous appearances in local, state, and national television, print, and radio outlets. His written commentaries have been featured at the Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com, New York Daily News, TheHill.com, Des Moines Register, Dallas Morning News, DailySignal.com, Washington Examiner, Indianapolis Star, Charleston Gazette-Mail, Outcomes Magazine, TheFederalist.com and others.
Please join us for this informative and stimulating discussion.
