The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take up a Baton Rouge pastor’s quest for an injunction against Gov. John Bel Edwards’ coronavirus orders in the early months of the pandemic, but his attorney said the original case remains alive.
Although the high court rejected the appeal by the Rev. Tony Spell’s attorneys last month, the case will be appealed on its merits before the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, attorney Jeffrey Wittenbrink told the Louisiana Record. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling siding with religious groups over New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s COVID-19 restrictions could bolster Spell’s arguments, according to Wittenbrink.
“I believe that when we get back to the Fifth Circuit, they may look at this Andrew Cuomo decision and say this issue has already been decided by the Supreme Court and grant in our favor,” he said. “Then we would go back to the court below for damages.”
In the Cuomo decision, justices found fault with the governor imposing coronavirus restrictions that included 10-person capacity limits on churches in certain virus hotspots. At the same time, the orders were less restrictive on commercial enterprises such as grocery stores.
Spell argued in his litigation that Edwards’ initial orders violated his federal constitutional rights under the First Amendment, as well as equal-protection rights, and also went against similar provisions of the Louisiana constitution. Complicating matters, however, was that Edwards modified his virus orders over time and relaxed the rules for houses of worship in later months – to the point that the U.S. Middle District of Louisiana court found that the plaintiffs’ arguments in favor of injunctive relief were moot.
“The governor has changed his orders,” Wittenbrink said. “It’s kind of like trying to hit a moving target.”
A Nov. 10 decision authored by Judge Briana Jackson of the U.S. Middle District of Louisiana found that the plaintiffs cannot recover damages because no violation of federal law was established.
The pastor is also facing some criminal charges over his holding of religious services during the pandemic, and Wittenbrink anticipates that those charges will be quashed on constitutional grounds in the wake of the ruling against Cuomo.
He is also planning to pursue the religious liberties case in Louisiana state courts.
“In truth and in fact, our Louisiana constitution is actually stronger on religious liberties than the U.S. Constitution,” Wittenbrink said.