WASHINGTON, DC- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Monday that a Washington state school district violated the religious freedom of a high school football coach who was fired for praying on the field after games.

Assistant Coach Joseph Kennedy was dismissed by the Bremerton School District near Seattle in 2015 after he continued to hold post-game prayer sessions on the 50 yard line when he was told by school officials not to do so.

The District claimed allowing him to pray on the field in such a public setting implied an endorsement of his religious beliefs by the school, and his First Amendment rights didn’t apply.

The Court disagreed, with Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch saying in the majority opinion: “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike.”