The Trump Department of Justice is siding in court with a Washington, D.C. church that sued the city over a restriction prohibiting it from meeting not only indoors but also outdoors.
Capitol Hill Baptist Church, which had around 1,000 attendees on a typical Sunday prior to the pandemic, is prohibited from gathering either indoors or outdoors under restrictions by Mayor Muriel Bowser that ban in-person church gatherings of more than 100 people.
The city has refused to grant the church a waiver, even though the congregation has committed to requiring masks and to enforce social distancing of six feet between families. The church filed suit against the city in September, alleging violations of its rights guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution’s First and Fifth Amendments, including its rights to assemble and worship without government interference. The church’s pastor, Mark Dever, is a well-known author and speaker.
“Although the precise legal tests may change based on the specific restriction at issue, the bottom line remains the same: there is no pandemic exception to the Constitution and our fundamental rights,” the DOJ brief, a Statement of Interest, says. It was filed Friday.
“Individual rights set forth in the Constitution are always operative and restrain government action,” the brief ads.
The restriction likely “targets religious believers”…
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