LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Gov. Andy Beshear has asked a federal appeals court to move with lightning speed to block a Wednesday order by a U.S. district judge that would allow private religious schools in Kentucky to return to in-person instruction immediately.
In a Thanksgiving Day motion, lawyers for the governor told the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that Kentucky would experience "imminent irreparable harm" if religious schools are allowed to return as soon as Monday.
Beshear, a Democrat, last week ordered all Kentucky schools to close for about three weeks to halt the spread of the coronavirus.
But Lexington-based U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove ruled Wednesday that the religious schools’ First Amendment rights trump Beshear’s emergency powers to fight COVID-19. Van Tatenhove issued a preliminary injunction barring Beshear from enforcing his ban on in-person classes.
Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who joined Danville Christian Academy in the legal challenge to Beshear’s order, said Thursday that Beshear should drop his "ill-conceived" appeal in light of a Wednesday ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in a similar case pitting religious liberty against COVID-19 restrictions.
In the Kentucky case, Van Tatenhove ruled that Beshear could not force private religious schools to stop offering in-person instruction if they follow public health guidelines meant to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Danville Christian Academy’s desire to offer in-person instruction "cannot outweigh the ability to prevent the spread of a deadly disease," Travis Mayo, Beshear’s chief deputy general counsel, wrote in the Thursday motion asking the Sixth Circuit to block Van Tatenhove’s ruling from taking effect.
"The Governor sufficiently controlled the first surge of cases with the help of religious and secular schools voluntarily ceasing in-person instruction in the Spring," Mayo said in the motion. "The public interest supports the measure again, even if some schools now disagree."
Cameron, however, said Beshear should not appeal Wednesday’s decision after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 measures limiting attendance of religious services in areas hit hard by the coronavirus ran afoul of First Amendment protections for religious exercise.
"It’s frightening that the Governor believes he can suspend religious liberty," Cameron wrote in a series of tweets Thursday. "The Governor is not above the law, and we urge him to drop this ill-conceived appeal and to halt his attacks on religious freedom. We again invite him to work with all elected officials to address the public health emergency."
Last night, a federal court ruled that the Governor’s order closing religious schools could not be enforced under the First Amendment. Hours later, the United States Supreme Court issued an opinion in a separate case that applied the same analysis. (1/6)
— Attorney General Daniel Cameron (@kyoag) November 26, 2020
Beshear’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attorneys for Beshear had previously relied on a Supreme Court ruling upholding COVID-19 restrictions on attendance at California religious services, but in October conservative jurist Amy Coney Barrett replaced liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died in September.
Cameron said the high court "applied the same analysis" as the Danville Christian Academy case in its New York decision.
"The Governor ignored the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling and, today, doubled down on his unconstitutional closure of religious schools by seeking emergency relief from an appellate court," he wrote on Twitter.
The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has set a 10 a.m. Saturday deadline for responses from attorneys for Danville Christian Academy and Cameron to Beshear’s motion for an emergency injunction.
This story may be updated.
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