LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky’s largest city cannot halt a local church’s drive-in service planned for Easter, a federal judge on Saturday ruled.
The ruling came as Republicans blasted Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s statewide plan to order people into quarantine if they attend mass gatherings, including religious ones, FOX News reported.
“On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter.”
– U.S. District Judge Justin Walker
On Fire Christian Church had sued Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer and the city after Fischer announced drive-in style religious gatherings were not allowed on Easter.
U.S. District Judge Justin Walker sided with the church. His ruling says the city is prohibited from “enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services at On Fire.”
“On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter,” Walker wrote in his sternly worded 20-page opinion. “That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion.”
“The Mayor’s decision is stunning. And it is, ‘beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional,” Walker added.
Although Fischer argued that drive-in church services weren’t “practical or safe,” Walker noted that drive-thru restaurants and liquor stores were still allowed to operate.
“Thank God for a judge who understands the First Amendment prevents the government from prohibiting the free government exercise of religion,” tweeted Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul.
Thank God for a judge who understands the First Amendment prevents the government from prohibiting the free government exercise of religion.
COVID-19 in Kentucky: Judge grants church’s request to hold services https://t.co/FMPfOe9GB0
— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 11, 2020
Walker, 38, was a former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. President Donald Trump recently nominated him for a seat on the powerful U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was confirmed last year despite having opposition by the American Bar Association.
Also Saturday, Republican Attorney General Daniel Cameron criticized Beshear’s warning that anyone attending in-person gatherings will be ordered into quarantine for 14 days.
“The Mayor’s decision is stunning. And it is, ‘beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional.”
– U.S. District Judge Justin Walker
“Directing a uniformed presence at church services to record the identity of worshippers and to force a quarantine, while doing no such thing for the people gathered at retail stores or obtaining an abortion, is the definition of arbitrary,” Cameron said in a tweet on Saturday. At the same time, Cameron encouraged people to celebrate Easter at home and continue to practice social distancing.
