Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron has asked the U.S. Top court to overturn Sunday's ruling in the 6th Circuit Court Of Appeals and block Gov. Andy Beshear's executive order that closed private religious K-12 schools.
Beshear's order, designed to curb the surge in coronavirus, bars all K-12 schools, public and private, from holding in-person classes. Danville Christian Academy sued and a federal district court judge granted a request for a preliminary injunction preventing an order from impacting private religious schools. Cameron joined the suit with respect to Danville Christian and private religious schools across the state.
The district court agreed with Danville Christian and Cameron the order harmed religious freedoms.
On Sunday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the lower court ruling, saying the order did not target religious freedoms because it applied to all K-12 schools, private and public.
In Cameron's filing on Monday, he argued that attending a personal religious school is an exercise of religious freedom, therefore religious schools ought to be treated differently than non-religious schools.
“The First Amendment protects religious schooling just like it will worship services–because, for many believers, those are simply two areas of fulfilling the obligations of the faith,” the filing reads.
Cameron argued the order does target religious freedoms, when considered in light of Beshear's regulations that permit other indoor activities across Kentucky.
“One can catch a matinee at the cinema, tour a distillery, exercise at the gym, bet at a gambling parlor, shop, start working, cheer around the Wildcats or the Cardinals, and attend a marriage. A parent can send his or her child to daycare or preschool…But all of Kentucky's religious schools are shuttered,” Cameron wrote.
Cameron also suggested the Court take up the situation for full consideration on the merits.
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a split ruling just last week, which blocked coronavirus restrictions from impacting worship services in Ny.
You can see the attorney general’s complete filing here.
