Kansas governor reaches agreement with two churches who filed lawsuit over order limiting religious gatherings

TOPEKA, Kan. (FOX4) – Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is expected to issue new rules for public gatherings on Monday, May 4, as part of an agreement Kelly reached with two rural churches that sued over an executive order limiting religious gatherings.

Churches and religious services were exempt from Kelly’s original executive order banning gatherings of 10 or more people. However, the governor changed course and included places of worship after several COVID-19 outbreaks in the state were linked to church services.

A Republican-dominated legislative panel tried to overturn Kelly’s executive order, but the state Supreme Court ruled in Kelly’s favor before Easter Sunday, stating the panel didn’t have the authority to overturn the order.

The court did not take a position on the merits of the order itself.

According to the lawsuit filed April 16, attorneys for the churches argue that executive order 20-18 “carves out broad exemptions for 26 types of secular activities” including gatherings at bars, restaurants, libraries and retail establishments, while singling out “churches and other religious activities.”

In a statement Saturday, Kelly said “under the agreement, the two churches agree to comply with safety protocols put in place by the court.”

Ryan Tucker, an attorney for the two churches that filed the lawsuit, released a statement Sunday saying singling out churches for special punishment while allowing others to have greater freedom is both illogical and unconstitutional.

“That’s why Gov. Kelly has agreed to an extension of the temporary restraining order against her in our case, filed on behalf of two rural churches,” Tucker said in his statement. “It is beyond shameful that the governor is claiming that her administration has resolved this legal challenge and that ‘under the agreement, the two churches agree to comply with safety protocols put in place by the court.’

Tucker says that in the court’s order against Kelly, the churches created and proposed those safety protocols long ago and that the governor refused to consider them acceptable until the court compelled her to abide by them.

“The governor claims that she and her administration are ‘confident that we have the law on our side,’ but if this were true, the governor would not be consenting to an agreed motion that states that she ‘intends to issue a new executive order with less restrictive mass gathering provisions that will start May 4’ and abide by the court’s order against her for an additional 14 days, until May 16,” Tucker said.

Kansas House Speaker Ron Ryckman (R-Olathe) released a statement saying “this is what we’ve said all along. Kansans need to stay home and protect their neighbors. But in doing that, the state cannot and should not set up a double standard where people are allowed to gather at an ice cream shop but arrested for gathering at a church. We are glad the Governor now agrees.”

Tucker said the two churches reserve the right to continue litigating this matter if Kelly does not follow through with appropriately amending her mass gathering ban.

“This is a victory for the churches whose First Amendment freedoms the governor has repeatedly disrespected throughout this ongoing litigation,” Tucker said at the end of his statement.

A federal judge overseeing the churches’ lawsuit must still sign off on the agreement. 

Attorneys say the new restrictions are less restrictive than current rules. They go into effect May 4.