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Bishop Barry C. Knestout, at the altar, conducts an Easter Sunday Mass
in an empty sanctuary at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond,
Va. | Steve Helber/AP Photo
The Justice Department and Gov. Ralph Northam (D-Va.) are squaring
off in court over whether Northam’s stay-at-home orders unfairly
discriminate against churches and other religious institutions.Northam’s directives responding to the coronavirus pandemic have become a focus of a drive Attorney General William Barr announced last week to scrutinize the virus-related actions of state and local officials for unconstitutional intrusion on individual rights or federal prerogatives.
On Sunday, Justice Department lawyers weighed in with a federal court in favor of a Chincoteague, Va., church that filed suit after its pastor received a criminal citation for holding a religious service last month with 16 people in attendance — exceeding a 10-person limit set by Northam.
“The
United States believes that the church has set forth a strong case that
the Orders, by exempting other activities permitting similar
opportunities for in-person gatherings of more than 10 individuals,
while at the same time prohibiting churches from gathering in groups of
more than 10 — even with social distancing measures and other
precautions — has impermissibly interfered with the church’s free
exercise of religion,” the Justice Department filing said.
Justice’s
submission endorsed the arguments of the Lighthouse Fellowship Church
that the impact on its congregation was unfair because other entities —
such as big-box retail stores, liquor stores and law offices — are being
permitted to operate with more than 10 people on their premises.
In a preliminary response Sunday night, Northam’s attorneys defended his orders and said they were being misconstrued by the Justice Department.
“Not
all executive orders issued to address the threat of Covid-19 are the
same, and those issued by Governor Northam do not operate in the manner
Plaintiff and the Federal Government describe,” Virginia Solicitor
General Toby Heytens wrote.
Heytens also quoted from the feds’ new filing and accused them of cherry-picking constitutional principles to apply in the case.
“Just
as ‘there is no pandemic exception to the . . . Bill of Rights,’ there
are likewise no exceptions to the Eleventh Amendment or the limitations
of Article III,” Heytens wrote.
“The Orders undoubtedly disrupt normal practice. There is a global disruption of normal practice. An incidental disruption of normal practice does not convert the Governor’s broadly applicable Orders into a substantial burden on Plaintiff’s right to practice its religion.,” wrote Allen, an appointee of President Barack Obama. “Although this may not be how Plaintiff wishes to practice its religion under ideal circumstances, these are not ideal circumstances.”
The church’s lawyers, who are with the Florida-based organization Liberty Counsel, appealed Allen’s ruling Friday to the Richmond-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. They’ve also asked Allen to block Northam’s order as the appeal goes forward, something she seems unlikely to do given her earlier ruling.
The Justice Department’s legal move Sunday was the second of its kind since the outbreak began. Last month, it filed a similar statement on behalf of a Mississippi church complaining about citations issued to worshipers at a drive-in religious service. That dispute seems to have fizzled after the city backed down.
Barr’s announcement of an effort to scrutinize the impact of virus-related state and local measures followed complaints from religious conservatives about those policies. President Donald Trump has also seemed to encourage such pushback through his statements, including tweets calling to “LIBERATE VIRGINIA!” and other states.
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