Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused the Supreme Court of having a bias toward Christianity, after it recently sided with a high school football coach who prayed on the 50-yard line.
The New York Democrat, who spoke at a virtual town hall Wednesday, said she didn’t think the high court would’ve ruled the coach’s actions constitutional if he were Jewish or Muslim.
“[There is] an absolute religious bias in the court,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, adding that the case infringed on the separation of church and state.
The congresswoman’s comments come after the court‘s Monday ruling that a public high school’s football coach had his free exercise of religion abridged when he was fired for praying at the 50-yard line after his team’s games.
The ruling was 6-3 in favor of Joseph Kennedy, who coached at a school in Bremerton, Washington.
The justices who sided in favor of Mr. Kennedy ruled that the government can’t punish someone for personal, private expression, finding that his actions did not compel other students to join.
Contrary to what Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said, some Muslim and Jewish groups did back the coach.
Among the groups filing briefs with the Supreme Court in support of Mr. Kennedy were the Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team at the Religious Freedom Institute and the Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also slammed last week’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, and she called for states and lawmakers to codify the right to an abortion into law.
She also warned of conservative justice’s hostility to the constitutional right to privacy, which she said could threaten cases on contraception, same-sex marriage and interracial marriage.
• Mica Soellner can be reached at msoellner@washingtontimes.com.
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