I blogged below about Judge Browning’s Free Exercise Clause analysis; but the church also raised an assembly clause challenge to the ban on gatherings of more than 5 people in places of worship. Such a challenge, if accepted, would have applied to nonreligious gatherings, too, but the judge rejected it (I think correctly, under the circumstances): The Court concludes that the April 11 Order does not Legacy Church’s freedom of assembly right, which it treats as a freedom of expressive association right to accord with Tenth Circuit and Supreme Court caselaw. The April 11 Order is reasonably related to the demands of the public health crisis, coronavirus. Moreover, if the April 11 Order was subject to a strict scrutiny analysis, the Court would conclude that it meets strict scrutiny and uphold the April 11 Order. Thus, the Court concludes that Legacy Church is not likely to win on the merits of its freedom of assembly, or expressive association, claim. The right to expressive association is not an absolute right and can be infringed upon if that infringement is (i) unrelated to the suppression of expressive association; (ii) due to a compelling government interest; and (iii) narrowly tailored. See Roberts […]
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