The Justice Department (DOJ) has sided with a church against Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s stay-at-home order that bars in-person religious services that have more than 10 people during the CCP virus pandemic.
The department weighed in on the issue in a statement of interest supporting Lighthouse Fellowship Church, a congregation in Chincoteague, Virginia, filed in a federal court on Sunday. DOJ lawyers argued that the church has “demonstrated a likelihood of success” under its Free Exercise claims because Northam’s restrictions appear to discriminate against religious groups and institutions.
Lighthouse Fellowship Church, a small congregation that caters to the socioeconomically disadvantaged, sued Northam, alleging that the governor had issued restrictions that improperly singles out religious gatherings at places of worship while allowing comparable secular gatherings, including “business operations offering professional rather than retail services.” The church is claiming the state had infringed on the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit was filed at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia after the Chincoteague Police Department issued the church’s pastor a criminal citation and summons for holding a 16-person worship service in its 225-seat sanctuary. The church maintains that it had imposed rigorous social-distancing and personal-hygiene protocols during the service.
If found guilty of violating Northam’s order, the pastor could face a penalty of up to a year in jail or a $2,500 fine, or both.
In its statement, the department argued that Virginia had not satisfied its burden of showing that it has compelling reasons to treat the church differently than similar non-religious businesses.
“[B]y exempting other activities permitting similar opportunities for in-person gatherings of more than ten individuals, while at the same time prohibiting churches from gathering in groups of more than ten—even with social distancing measures and other precautions—has impermissibly interfered with the church’s free exercise of religion.”
“Contrary to Plaintiff’s and the Federal Government’s contention, for example, the orders challenged in this case do not ‘exempt all non-retail businesses, including professional services, from the mass gathering limit,’” the governor’s lawyers wrote.
The lawyers added that the governor also intends to file declarations from public health experts to explain why the gathering ban was and is essential.
In his memo, Barr said in the event an ordinance “crosses the line” between stopping the spread of the virus and violating constitutional and statutory protections, the DOJ “may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.”
“Many policies that would be unthinkable in regular times have become commonplace in recent weeks, and we do not want to unduly interfere with the important efforts of state and local officials to protect the public,” Barr said. “But the Constitution is not suspended in times of crisis.
“While Governors can institute measures to protect people, this example is complete insanity and fails to protect anyone,” Pinkster said. “The problem with the Government’s response is that not all people are equally vulnerable, so it is a manifest injustice to deprive all Americans of their civil liberties.”
“The way to strike a balance is to enact measures to protect and support the most vulnerable members of our population, while allowing the less vulnerable to resume their normal lives,” he added.
Many Americans are frustrated by restrictions that caused them to lose their jobs, while plunging their states into a deep economic slump. In recent weeks, there have been an increase in protests against state and local governments over orders that have stirred controversy, such as Michigan banning the sale of seeds in some stores.
