In the wake of stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Louisiana Legislature has placed on the fall ballot a constitutional amendment calling the freedom to attend a service at a house of worship “worthy of the highest order of protection.”
The Constitutional Right to Worship in a Church or Place of Worship Amendment, sponsored by state Sen. Beth Mizell (R-Franklinton), will go before voters on Oct. 14. The measure is seen by some observers as a way to better ensure that people are free to exercise religious freedoms during a future public health emergency.
During the onset of the pandemic, Gov. John Bel Edwards issued a stay-at-home order in March 2020, limiting public and private gatherings to no more than 50 people. That limit was later lowered to just 10 people.
The Rev. Tony Spell defied the stay-at-home order by holding worship services at his Baton Rouge church and was eventually charged with six misdemeanors. That led to a long round of litigation that came to a head when the Louisiana Supreme Court in May of last year decided in a 5-2 ruling that the executive orders violated Spell’s right to practice religion.
“Pandemic or not, this court cannot look the other way when the state infringes upon a citizen’s fundamental right to exercise his religion,” the high court said in Louisiana v. Mark Anthony Spell. “... As judges, we have no more solemn duty than to protect the fundamental rights reserved by the people from government overreach. The prohibitions in the executive orders at issue violate (the) defendant’s fundamental right to exercise religion. They do not survive strict scrutiny based on the limited evidence in the record.”
Spell’s attorney, Jeffrey Wittenbrink, said passage of the constitutional amendment should help to reinforce the arguments made in litigation on behalf of Spell.
"I would have to think that it would pass overwhelmingly,” Wittenbrink told the Louisiana Record. “But opponents of the bill will probably argue that the state and governor need their emergency powers."
The overall impact of the amendment, if passed, would be to limit a government body so that it could only take an action in conflict with the right to worship if it can demonstrate the action is needed to achieve a compelling governmental interest and is narrowly applied, according to the Ballotpedia website.