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Kansas Governor Laura Kelly has agreed to fix her COVID-19 mass gathering ban that unconstitutionally targets churches.
In the interim, the Governor has subjected herself to a 14-day extension of the court-imposed temporary restraining order issued against her.
The move comes as part of an agreed motion filed in case of First Baptist Church v. Kelly.
“Singling out churches for special punishment while allowing others to have greater freedom is both illogical and unconstitutional,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker.
“That’s why Gov. Kelly has agreed to an extension of the temporary restraining order against her in our case, filed on behalf of two rural churches.
“It is beyond shameful that the governor is claiming that her administration has resolved this legal challenge and that ‘under the agreement, the two churches agree to comply with safety protocols put in place by the court.’
“As noted in the court’s order against her, the churches themselves created and proposed those safety protocols long ago—protocols that the governor refused to consider acceptable until the court compelled her to abide by them.
“The governor claims that she and her administration are ‘confident that we have the law on our side,’ but if this were true, the governor would not be consenting to an agreed motion that states that she ‘intends to issue a new executive order with less restrictive mass gathering provisions that will start May 4’ and abide by the court’s order against her for an additional 14 days, until May 16.
Tucker said that the ADF reserved the right to continue litigating the issue if Governor Kelly does not follow through with appropriately amending the mass gathering ban.
US Attorney-General William Barr has also warned state governments against targeting churches.