Posted on 05/06/2020 9:47:36 AM PDT by Kaslin
Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia stood behind a podium at the front of the room -- wearing no mask -- but looking like he had an important message to deliver.
He was issuing an order to the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. As part of his strategy to deal with COVID-19, Virginia restaurants and bars would now be able to sell mixed drinks for takeout or delivery.
"All Virginia restaurants that remain open are now takeout or delivery only," Northam said. "Allowing them to sell mixed beverages with takeout or delivery orders will help them augment their revenue streams so they can continue to operate and employ Virginians."
While Northam was making this and other announcements, a photographer from the Associated Press was taking pictures. One showed there were at least 21 people in the room -- in addition to Northam.
The date was April 8, 2020.
That gathering of more than 20 people around Northam occurred more than two weeks after he had issued an executive order making "all public and private in-person gatherings of more than 10 individuals" a crime.
It occurred more than a week after he had issued another order clarifying that his ban on gatherings of more than 10 people "includes parties, celebrations, religious, or other social events."
Northam did make exceptions to his rule. It did not apply, for example, to "essential" businesses -- including Virginia retailers that sell beer and wine.
He also, apparently, did not apply it to his own press conferences.
Nor should he have.
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press. Given that the reporters at Northam's briefing (as evidenced by the AP photo) maintained a healthy social distance from one another, what justification would the governor have for sending police in to arrest them?
But Northam's ban does apply to churches -- and the police in one Virginia community have enforced it there.
On Palm Sunday, a small group of worshippers gathered at the Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Chincoteague, Virginia.
The church has now filed a lawsuit against Northam in federal court. Its complaint spells out what allegedly happened.
"On April 5, 2020, Lighthouse held a worship service at its church property in Chincoteague Island, Virginia, with 16 individuals attending, only 6 people over Governor Northam's 10-person restriction," says the complaint.
"Lighthouse," it says, "executed stringent social distancing and personal hygiene protocols, including extensive and enhanced sanitizing of common surfaces in Lighthouse's building prior to the service, requiring attendees to remain at least six feet apart and use hand sanitizer prior to entering and during movement inside Lighthouse's building.
"Lighthouse's church building has a total occupancy limit of 293 individuals by virtue of the government's fire inspection," says the complaint, "and its sanctuary where its worship services are held typically seats approximately 225 persons."
"Lighthouse's social distancing, personal hygiene, and enhanced sanitizing practices complied with all of the recommended practices for 'essential' and 'non-essential' businesses that are permitted to continue to operate with more than 10 people present," said the church's complaint.
But the police came anyway.
One came 45 minutes before the service started. "Upon entering the building at Lighthouse, the officer merely demanded that there be no more than 10 people and that all must be spaced six feet apart," says the complaint.
"At the conclusion of the April 5 worship service, two additional uniformed officers from the Town of Chincoteague Police Department arrived at Lighthouse and entered the building," says the complaint. "Those officers entered the building in gloves and masks."
They issued a "criminal citation and summons" to Pastor Kevin Wilson -- for violating Northam's order.
The pastor subsequently asked the Chincoteague Police Department if he would receive another criminal citation if he held a service on Easter. A policeman then told Wilson, according to the complaint, "that should Lighthouse host an Easter Service with more than 10 people, every person at the Easter Service would be given a criminal citation and summons."
The church noted in its complaint that the 16 people at the service Wilson was cited for equaled only 7% of the total seating capacity of the church.
The complaint then noted that Northam does not even follow his own rules.
"In publicly released photographs from Governor Northam's own thrice-weekly press conferences, even he does not abide by his 10-person limitation on 'in-person' gatherings," says the complaint.
To illustrate this point, the complaint includes a copy of the AP photograph of the 21 people at Northam's April 8 briefing.
This Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department presented a "statement of interest" in the case to the federal court.
"Based on the materials before the Court," says the DOJ statement, "Plaintiff has demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of its claim under the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution that the Commonwealth's executive orders have prohibited religious gatherings at places of worship, even with social distancing and personal hygiene protocols, while allowing comparable secular gatherings to proceed with social distancing."
In Ralph Northam's Virginia, 20 people can enter a store that sells beer and wine and rudely brush past on another in the narrow aisles.
But if 16 people were to meet on Easter in a church that seats 225, they would be criminals.
no sales tax revenue from churches.
church is tax exempt=- liquor store pays state taxes-
So we see how social position makes people unequal when it comes to power drunk lawmakers-
How about a liquor store in a church?
Better yet, win bottles in every pew :D
wine*
But it’s for the win (so subconscious spelling slip)
A Liquor Store.
A church doesnt fight back... against anything...
On paper? Church.
In fact? Liquor store.
Governments rake in money from sales of alcohol. Churches are exempt from taxes, and they talk about God.
Alcohol and pot keep people stoned, so they don’t care what government does to them.
Churches give people moral principles to live by, which makes them hated by government which wants to be the only source of guidance on right and wrong.
This really needs to go to the Supreme Court. The government either controls the churches or it does not. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. And the Bill of Rights is not only in force when it is safe and convenient.
Neither. Both are buildings. Buildings do not have rights.
Or were we not being literal?
Sorry....
This church is fighting back, but it’s money down a rat hole.
Of the cases I’ve reviewed, 6 out of 7 federal courts find that the 1st amendment free exercise clause takes back seat to health emergency.
Interesting that the press is not subjected to the same sort of government harassment or even order in the first place. Press is essential, church is not.
Some rights are more equal than others.
But as you note, the church is fundamentally docile.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/04/pennsylvania-businesses-challenge-state-closure-order/
Not a church, directly. IIRC, free exercise does appear in the petition.
Which Has More Rights: A Church or a Liquor Store?
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Neither. Only Treaty Tribes have Rights enshrined in the Constitution; all others have mere privileges which can be revoked at any given time - SCOTUS ruling 3X. Consider church and liquor store privileges revoked.
To be truthful, you’ll only see one or two Baptists in a liquor store at once.
Mixed drinks for pick-up? Doesn’t that violate some open container laws somewhere?
The church isn’t the building. It’s the body of people inside.
In Virginia, the state government owns the liquor stores and distributes all hard alcohol to bars.
It’s the revenue to the state he’s worried about.
I understand that. I was making a joke about the headline.
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