A Kentucky church that refused to follow Gov. Andy Beshear’s order to shutter religious congregations has announced its plans to file a federal lawsuit against the state.
On Tuesday, Maryville Baptist Church attorney Mathew Staver said Beshear did not have a constitutional right to bar gatherings and order police to take down the license plates of more than 50 members who showed up to worship on Easter Sunday.
“Even in times of this pandemic,” Staver told WAVE 3 News, “you don’t lose your constitutional rights. To actually target individuals because the name on the outside of the building is a church rather than a Home Depot, Walmart, Kmart, or Kroger is unconstitutional.”
At a Sunday press conference, Beshear said that police had recorded the license plates of worshipers so they could send the information to Kentucky’s Public Health Department and quarantine them.
Staver argued that members of the church went to great lengths to ensure social distancing measures were enforced, including separating parishioners in their pews and administering hand sanitizer to all who attended. Constitutional attorney Mitchel Denham said, however, that Kentucky’s Revised Statutes Chapter 39-A gives the governor the authority to disperse large gatherings in times of pandemic.
“That chapter gives him very broad authority to limit gathering of this nature across the board,” Denham said.
Parishioners could face a Class A misdemeanor for violating Beshar’s orders.
