LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Legal Newsline) — The Kentucky attorney general filed an amicus brief with the U.S. District Court for Western District of Kentucky on Wednesday asking Gov. Andy Beshear to withdraw restrictions on how many people can attend religious-related events during COVID-19 lockdowns.
"Governor (Andy) Beshear’s orders single out faith-based activities for prohibition, while simultaneously allowing similarly risky secular activities to continue," says AG Daniel Cameron's brief.
"This is quintessential discrimination against religion, requiring the state to meet the high burden of strict scrutiny. Just as troubling is Governor Beshear’s refusal to define religious activity as 'life-sustaining' for those Kentuckians with sincerely held beliefs about communal worship.
Beshear, who is a Democrat, indicated on Wednesday that church services might resume on May 20. Cameron is a Republican.
The amicus brief Cameron filed in support of plaintiff Marysville Baptist Church on April 29 asked the governor to cease what it said was unconstitutional prohibitions on religious services.
On March 25, Beshear ordered the closure of any business or organization that he does not consider life-sustaining - "a vaguely defined term that includes newspapers, law firms, liquor stores, and hardware stores, but not churches, synagogues, or mosques," the lawsuit said.
During services at the Marysville Baptist Church on April 12, car licenses were recorded by officers of the Kentucky State Police sent by Beshear, according to the complaint.
The vehicle owners later received a letter that read, “You are receiving this letter because your vehicle was documented to have been parked at a mass gathering at Maryville Baptist Church," according to the complaint. "If you or someone in your household attended the above gathering, following the guidance from the Kentucky Dept. for Public Health, you are advised to restrict movement to home while self-monitoring with public health supervision for 14 days from attending the mass gathering.”
The letter thus told churchgoers to quarantine themselves.
“On that same Sunday, the parking lots of Kroger, Walmart, liquor stores and other commercial operations within minutes of the church were packed with cars,” the complaint alleged. “These businesses were jammed with people. Not one received a quarantine notice. Gov. Beshear targeted churchgoers parked in a church parking lot to intimidate and isolate them.”
Mat Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel - a nonprofit dedicated to advancing religious freedom - said AG Cameron understands that the First Amendment does not disappear during a crisis.
“Gov. Beshear has clearly discriminated against every church in the Commonwealth and violated the First Amendment and Kentucky law,” Staver said.
A Courier-Journal report said that on April 11, federal U.S. District Judge Justin Walker rejected a call from Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer for churches to eliminate drive-in services over the Easter weekend to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Walker called the move “overly broad and unconstitutional” and issued a restraining order, banning the city from "enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services."
"On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter," Walker said in a written opinion.
The On Fire Christian Church in Louisville sued Fischer and the city, maintaining that the mayor's direction on drive-in religious services violated constitutional rights and personal religious liberties.
“The freedom to practice one’s faith is a defining feature of American liberty,” the complaint said. “Since the founding of this nation, religious groups have been able to sit in safety with none to make them afraid."
The brief said Beshear, county judge-executives and mayors have had to deal with extraordinary challenges over the past few weeks and most Kentuckians want to do their part to contain and defeat COVID-19.
Ultimately, the sides reached an agreement to allow churches to continue drive-in services.
Beshear at a press conference on April 29 said a phased-in reopening of businesses would begin May 11 with houses of worship set for May 20.