Kansas governor to issue less restrictive coronavirus rules beginning May 4
Update: For the latest on plans to ease coronavirus restrictions in Kansas, see an updated story posted here.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly plans to issue new coronavirus restrictions on May 4 for public gatherings that are “significantly less restrictive” than current rules, attorneys said in a legal filing outlining an agreement with churches that had sued to continue holding larger in-person services.
Attorneys for Kelly and the churches — First Baptist Church in Dodge City and Calvary Baptist Church in Junction City — submitted a joint motion on Saturday asking a federal judge to extend a temporary restraining order that had allowed the churches to hold larger meetings while following social distancing rules.
The motion, if accepted by Judge John Broomes, resolves a fight over religious liberty and public health that had pitted pastors against the Democratic governor, who has been condemned by Republican lawmakers for limiting in-person religious gatherings to 10 people.
The Kansas Supreme Court allowed Kelly’s mass gathering ban to extend to religious services. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Wichita, contended the governor’s executive order violated their constitutional rights to the free exercise of religious, freedom of speech, right to assemble and due process.
“While I am confident that we have the law on our side, the agreement with these two churches will allow us to move forward and focus our efforts on mitigating the spread of the disease and working to restart the economy,” Kelly said in a news release.
But the document also gives new details about Kelly’s plan to begin reopening Kansas, which has been under a statewide stay-at-home order for nearly a month.
Beginning May 4, Kelly intends to issue new “re-opening restrictions” that won’t prohibit gatherings where people can consistently maintain a 6-foot distancing and follow other safety measures. The legal filing says that while details may change, “unless there is a significant change in trends or status of the pandemic, the new restrictions will be significantly less restrictive than those currently in place.”
Under the proposed agreement with the churches, Kelly would provide the pastors with draft language of the new executive order before May 4. If the churches believe the new order is unconstitutional, they may ask the judge to again block enforcement, according to the agreement.
In the joint motion, attorneys for both Kelly and the churches write that “there is a likelihood this matter will be moot in the future” based on Kelly’s intention not to extend current restrictions beyond May 3.
This story was originally published April 25, 2020 at 11:15 PM.
