Posted on 04/13/2020 10:29:17 AM PDT by Morgana
A federal judge granted a restraining order against a Kentucky mayor who promised to record the license plates of Easter church goers, calling the order “unconstitutional.”
U.S. District Court Judge Justin Walker granted the temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer from blocking Easter drive-in-services at On Fire Church, the non-profit public interest law firm First Liberty Institute announced in a Saturday press release.
According to First Liberty, the Louisville church had been hosting drive-in-church services for several weeks consistent with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coronavirus guidelines.
The order prevents Louisville from “enforcing; attempting to enforce; threatening to enforce; or otherwise requiring compliance with any prohibition on drive-in church services at On Fire,” court documents show.
The judge condemned Fischer’s order in a memorandum opinion that compared the order to a report from the satirical publication, “The Onion.”
“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,” Walker said.
“But two days ago, citing the need for social distancing during the current pandemic, Louisville’s Mayor Greg Fischer ordered Christians not to attend Sunday services, even if they remained in their carsto worship –and even though it’s Easter.”
“The Mayor’s decision is stunning,” the opinion concludes. “And it is,’beyond all reason,’ unconstitutional.”
Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear had announced that the state would enforce stay-at-home measure by recording the license plates of any person attending Easter services.
“This is a time and weekend, a whole week for multiple faiths, that is about faith. It’s about knowing we have faced as people – as Christians, as Jews, as members of many faiths – many difficult, dark times, and we have prevailed,” Beshear said Friday.
“We know that the weeks or the months ahead will be difficult. We know that there are going to be tougher days before there are easier days.”
“This is the only way we can ensure that your decision doesn’t kill someone else,” Beshear added.
First Liberty senior counsel Roger Byron said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation that the judge recognized that Fischer’s prohibition of drive-in church services on Easter “violated the church’s religious freedom.”
“The church will conduct the Easter drive-in service tomorrow with grateful hearts and in full compliance with the CDC’s guidelines,” Byron added.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had urged Fischer to allow religious gatherings that comply with CDC guidelines, Kentucky Today reported Friday. The publication obtained a letter in which McConnell told Fischer that it is “important that we continue to respect and protect the constitutional rights of our citizens.”
McConnell asks Louisville mayor to allow drive-in church services | Kentucky Today https://t.co/BbPEUMzp50
— Senator McConnell Press (@McConnellPress) April 11, 2020
“When the government permits people in vehicles to gather in parking lots for secular purposes but prohibits them from doing so for religious purposes, it raises the specter that the government is singling religious people out for disfavored treatment,” McConnell wrote, according to Kentucky Today.
“I believe churches should be following CDC guidelines on mitigating the transmission of COVID-19 and support temporary government regulations consistent with that guideline,” he added. “Religious organizations share the national responsibility to right the disease’s spread.”
Is this The USA or the USSA?
Very good news- One more socialist dictator slapped down-
535++++ v 330 MILLION Take names, list grievances. FF were smarter radicals.
Oddly enough, there are sensors for all sides of police cars that continually read license plates and automatically check them for warrants and stolen vehicles. And these sensors are common in the US.
They are so quick that a single cop car can drive through a large parking lot and identify every parking plate in the place and run checks on them in just the time it takes to drive through the lot.
So the judge’s order might mean that no cop car equipped this way can be in the area near the church.
Folks should read the 20 page decision if they get a chance.
I think we need to bring back tarring and feathering, in order to prevent
bringing back lynching.
Before and during WWII both of my grandfathers constantly said exactly that...
I remember that clearly because during the war, my brother and I were shuffled from one set of grandparents to the other while my mother worked 12-14 hours a day in a defense plant and my dad spent all his time (1942-1945) on beaches all across the south Pacific...
Stalin and his cohorts controlled the White House for 12 years... Their communist descendants still exert full control of the inner workings of the Department Of State...
Communist control of the WH was even worse during the recent 8 years that the Kenyan tree-swinger infested the White House...
The judge screwed up, royally, by too narrowly ruling.
The ruling enjoined the mayor & city of Louisville, but that was all.
The response was for the GOVERNOR to order the state police to do the dirty work, and then forward the license plate info to the city for action.
Burning at the stake for the first offense, and being drawn and quartered for the next mayor or governor would either instill an abundance of caution, or make various "leaders" re-consider their career choices.
Better yet, file attempted murder or premeditated murder charges against the entire congregation if so much as one member gets sick.
Mayor greg is a “leader”. Hahahahahahaha. What an absolute loser.
Hmmm, No word about the act of FELONY EXTORTION He committed when issuing this Criminal Threat?? Shouldn’t he have been referred to the US Attorney?? AG Barr, are you awake??
I've got a cure, but you won't like it.
Did anyone put a gun to the head of any of the congregation and force them to go to the church service? Who is murdering who here?
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