Feds Support Mississippi Church in Challenge to Drive-In Service Ban

A Mississippi city appears to have unconstitutionally targeted religious conduct when it prohibited drive-in church services in part of its effort to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus among the community, the Justice Department told a federal judge Tuesday.

The U.S. Constitution doesn’t provide a “pandemic exception” to its protection of fundamental liberties, the agency said in a statement of interest filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.

The government’s expressed interest in the Mississippi litigation follows an order from a federal judge in Kentucky last week to allow drive-in services on Easter Sunday. ...