Posted on 04/18/2020 8:00:59 PM PDT by usafa92
Judge rules against Kansas governor’s order limiting in-person church gatherings April 18, 2020 07:57 PM, Updated 40 minutes ago
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly talks about impending lawsuit over church order
Kansas Governor Laura Kelly spoke at her daily briefing about her plans to go to court to stop Republican lawmakers from overturning her executive order limiting church gatherings. (April 9, 2020) By Governor Laura Kelly/Facebook A U.S. District Court of Kansas judge issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday against part of Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order that limited church gatherings to 10 or fewer people, paving the way for normal in-person Sunday services without violating the law.
The ruling is the latest in a saga about religious freedom that caught national attention after Kelly signed an order banning the gatherings, which had already been in effect, but added “churches or other religious facilities” to the list five days before Easter. The addition sparked a board of the state’s top legislators overriding the order which led to the Kansas Supreme Court striking down the override. The court never ruled on the constitutionality of the order which is what was brought up in a lawsuit filed Thursday by a couple of pastors and their two churches.
Judge John Broomes heard arguments for about 75 minutes on Friday during a telemeeting while people practice social distancing during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Broomes issued his decision Saturday.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansas.com ...
For your interest.
Trump judge John W. Broomes lowers the broome on the Wicked Witch of Kansas...
People on Facebook are saying that this only applies to the churches who are parties to the lawsuit. ??
Likely true. Judge order likely restrains governor in legal action against these two churches. Her executive order otherwise criminalizing attending church has not been invalidated. There is a separate legal action on that.
It’s the communist way. Prohibit you from attending church but you CAN get an abortion. Someone explain the logic. We want our country back.
He didn't invent them., The churches volunteered them in the Motion for a TRO. The judge gave them exactly what they asked for.
I get that some church conference late last month in KCK caused variety of attwndants to get sick but the governor’s orders are more and more draconian. Glad the judge ruled against her. She should have never won in 2018.
Isn’t that how it should always be? Judges rule on the case and parties before them — as opposed to district judges making nation-wide rulings against the President.
An excerpt from Bill Wylie-Kellermann’s classic Seasons of Faith and Conscience (1991).
The sealing of the tomb is, I believe, notoriously misunderstood. I grew up with a Sunday School notion that to seal the tomb was a matter of hefting the big stone and cementing it tight. The seal, in my mind’s eye, was something like first-century caulking–puttying up the cracks to keep the stink in. Not so. This is a legal seal. Cords would be strung across the rock and anchored at each end with clay. To move the stone would break the seal and indicate tampering.
The event conspicuously echoes the story of Daniel sealed in the den of lions. “And a stone was brought and laid upon the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel” (Daniel 6:18). As there, this is a legal lock on the tomb door–not air tight, but politically tight. To move the stone and break the seal is a civil crime. The resurrection is against the law.
The seal is also a recurring theme in the book of Revelation. Remember the scroll of history sealed with seven seals? Only One is worthy to break them and look upon or unveil the truth: that One is the Lamb who was slain. The seal is a claim of ownership and authority. Its meaning in Revelation is at least that God in Christ reigns sovereign over all history and in all events.
Caesar, in Pilate, on the other hand, violently disputes the claim. He has set his seal of approval on Jesus’ death, and now he guarantees it with troops. Secured by security forces. When the seal is broken in the resurrection, it stands among the signs that the power of the powers (death in all its forms) has been broken. The dominion of political authority–especially inflated, aggressive–and imperial authority has been cut to the heart.
The scope of relief depends. In this case the issue before the court was the constitutionality of a government order, and the requested remedy was a temporary restraining order
A case cited in the decision in this lawsuit is in re Abbot, decided in the 5th Circuit (so an appellate decision) on April 7 this year, a week ago. The issue in Abbot was EO prohibiting abortion in light of coronavirus, and the remedy sought was a finding that the prohibition was unconstitutional as a matter of law.
The 5th circuit court of appeals found abortion to be a constitutionally protected right as a matter of law. The whole 5th Circuit is implicated in that, but at least the entire state of Texas is in the scope of relief, the whole state being under the prohibiting order.
So why not apply this decision to the whole state of Kansas? Because the motion was for a temporary restraining order, not for a finding that the order is unconstitutional as a matter of law. The ultimate issue was not decided. The conclusion that justified the temporary relief is that it is likely the court will find the order to be unconstitutional, depending on what it had for breakfast the day it decides.
Isn’t it amazing how many of the worst authoritarian governors and mayors are female?
Proud of you Judge!
She is a Democrat power hungry dictator.
OMG...where’d they find her...
She certainly is, but the people of Kansas should remember that she was elected by Republicans, especially female suburban Republicans, who decided that the Republican candidate was a Right Winger radical. Thank you ladies.
I am a female conservative. I voted for Kobach, but it didn’t seem like he really wanted it. Kansans have a way of voting for annoying Karen type governors, sadly.
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