Virus Orders Can’t Bar Kentucky Drive-In Church, Court Rules (1)

Kentucky churches can’t be stopped from holding drive-in services, a federal appeals court ruled, while criticizing state health orders as discriminating against religious gatherings compared to large gatherings in grocery stores.

“While the law may take periodic naps during a pandemic, we will not let it sleep through one,” a three-judge Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals panel said in unanimous per curiam order issued Saturday.

The ruling found Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear’s (D) social-distancing orders issued to combat the spread coronavirus violated the state’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Rules blocking drive-in church gatherings “substantially burden the congregants’ ...