The US Supreme Court has upheld the right of the football coach of a public high school to kneel and pray on the sports field after games.

The case before the justices involved Joseph Kennedy, a Christian and former football coach at Bremerton High School in Bremerton, Washington. Kennedy started coaching at the school in 2008 and initially prayed alone on the 50-yard line at the end of games. But students started joining him, and over time he began to deliver a short, inspirational talk with religious references. Kennedy did that for years and led students in locker room prayers. The school district learned what he was doing in 2015 and asked him to stop.

Kennedy stopped leading students in prayer in the locker room and on the field but wanted to continue praying on the field himself, after games, with students free to join if they wished. Concerned about being sued for violating students’ religious freedom rights, the school asked him to stop even this practice while still “on duty” as a coach after the game. When he refused, the school put him on paid, administrative leave.

On Tuesday, the court ruled 6-3 in favour of the coach, saying his prayer was protected by the First Amendment.

“The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority.