Virginia Church’s Challenges to Governor’s Covid Rules Barred

A Virginia church’s constitutional challenges to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam’s initial Covid restrictions on the number of people who could attend in-person services are barred as the rules have long-since expired, the Fourth Circuit said Tuesday.

No exception to the mootness doctrine applies either, the opinion by Judge Robert B. King said.

Lighthouse Fellowship Church sued Northam in his official capacity over the original restrictions in two executive orders that limited attendance to 10 people and made violations a misdemeanor. Although those restrictions had an exception for liquor stores, none covered churches, and Lighthouse said they violated the First and ...