Attorney General to police: Don’t enforce Gov. Kelly’s order on religious gatherings

Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order restricting religious gatherings to no more than 10 people to combat the spread of COVID-19 likely violates the Kansas Constitution, according to Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who advised law enforcement against enforcing the directive.

Schmidt’s advice came ahead of a Wednesday afternoon meeting of Republican and Democratic legislative leaders to review the order. They could potentially revoke it.

The order, issued Tuesday, sparked a strong backlash from GOP quarters, with some lawmakers and candidates condemning it as an overreach and a violation of religious liberty ahead of Easter Sunday.

Schmidt encouraged Kansans participating in religious services to voluntarily observe the restrictions. Still, in a memo to law enforcement and prosecutors, he wrote “we also strongly discourage law enforcement from attempting to enforce the requirements of EO 20-18 as violations of the criminal law.”

“In our view, Kansas statute and the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights each forbid the governor from criminalizing participation in worship gatherings by executive order,” Schmidt wrote.

The order became effective at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.

“This time of year is one defined by renewal celebration and community for the people of all faiths,” Kelly said on Tuesday. “The disruptions created by this global health crisis has forced us all to approach it differently, regardless of our religious beliefs.”

Kelly told reporters the risk was too high to let religious gatherings continue as usual through the weekend.

This story was originally published April 8, 2020 at 12:52 PM with the headline "Attorney General to police: Don’t enforce Gov. Kelly’s order on religious gatherings."