The United States Supreme Court has denied a Kentucky church’s request for an appeal to allow it to be awarded legal costs after successfully challenging the state’s COVID-19 pandemic lockdown rules.
In an orders list released Monday, the Supreme Court declined without comment to hear oral arguments in the case of Maryville Baptist Church et al. v. Beshear, Gov. of Kentucky.
At issue was whether Maryville Baptist Church was entitled to attorney’s fees and other costs related to their successful litigation against Beshear over COVID-19 restrictions.
In April 2020, as some state governors issued lockdown measures for churches and other gatherings, three members of MBC filed a complaint against Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.
According to the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs had attended a drive-in service on Easter Sunday wearing facemasks and avoiding personal contact with others. Despite these measures, the attendees received notices on their cars from Kentucky State Troopers saying their license plate numbers had been recorded and they were expected to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
The lawsuit had argued that state and local officials went “too far” in preventing mass gatherings at the church and were acting “beyond the limits the Constitution permits.”
Soon after the lawsuit was filed, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of the church and its pastor, Jack Roberts.
“Assuming all of the same precautions are taken, why is it safe to wait in a car for a liquor store to open but dangerous to wait in a car to hear morning prayers?” the panel opinion said.
“The Governor has offered no good reason so far for refusing to trust the congregants who promise to use care in worship in just the same way it trusts accountants, lawyers, and laundromat workers to do the same.”
Although the church and its members were given permanent injunctions and Beshear rescinded the restrictions, the church and its legal representatives did not receive any award for costs.
A district court denied them the status of a “prevailing party” and thus being eligible for compensation due to the case being considered moot over the lifting of the restrictions.
In March, another three-judge panel from the Sixth Circuit issued a unanimous opinion rejecting the church’s claims, with Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton, a George W. Bush appointee, authoring the ruling.
“Any ongoing relief the Church enjoys at this point comes from the Governor’s revised orders and later legislation by the General Assembly, not from a federal court’s orders,” wrote Sutton.
“Because the Church ‘gained only preliminary injunctive relief before this action became moot,’ it does not qualify as a prevailing party eligible for attorney’s fees.”
