We were critical, from the very beginning, of the authoritarian dictates of so many of our nation’s governors when the COVID-19 scare first erupted.

On March 19, 2020 Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) unconstitutionally ordered all churches closed in the Bluegrass State. That order covered the Easter holiday, the most important day in the Christian calendar. When a couple of churches ignored the Governor’s order, he sent the Kentucky State Police to record license plates and vehicle identification numbers on vehicles in church parking lots, on Easter Sunday!

Two federal judges ruled against the Governor, allowing churches to reopen, but they did not rule until May 8, 2020.

Then, on July 24, 2020, he asked church leaders to suspend services for two Sundays, which most declined to do, and again on November 19^th made another request that churches close, for “three or four weeks,” a request that would have taken them through Thanksgiving. Fortunately, that request was denied as well.

Now comes yet another court ruling, telling us that the Constitution means what it says, and that state Governors cannot restrict our freedom of religion:

Louisiana justices toss COVID-related charges against pastor

By Janet McConnaughey | Friday, May 13, 2022

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Louisiana Supreme Court threw out charges Friday against a pastor who flouted restrictions on gatherings early in the coronavirus pandemic, ruling 5-2 that the governor’s executive orders violated freedom of religion.

“This is a tremendous win for religious civil liberties and it has vindicated us in our … battle with the governor trying to close the churches down,” said the Rev. Tony Spell, who drew national attention when his congregation continued to meet in the spring of 2020, while much of the nation was in lockdown.

Gov. John Bel Edwards disagrees with but accepts the ruling, said spokesman Richard Carbo. “Each and every action Gov. Edwards took throughout the COVID pandemic was done with the goal of protecting the public’s health and saving lives,” Carbo said in a text message.

The Supreme Court majority found that numerous secular exemptions showed that religious groups weren’t getting adequate consideration in mid- March 2020, when Edwards first limited gatherings to fewer than 50 people and, about a week later, tightened the limit to 10.

Churches around the country challenged state limits. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in November 2020 for churches in New York, reversing the trend of votes before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

There’s more at the original, but note: the Supreme Court had been letting the states get away with their bovine feces until Justice Ginsburg departed to her eternal reward, and she was replaced by Amy Coney Barrett, a jurist who actually respects the Constitution and our individual rights.

Sadly, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled on narrower grounds, that Governor Edwards had not submitted proof that his orders were narrowly tailored and met the “strict scrutiny” requirement for restrictions on religious services.

The record in Spell’s case doesn’t include any proof that “gatherings in secular venues like office buildings and airports created less risk of virus transmission than such interactions at gatherings in a church building,” Louisiana Supreme Court Justice William J. Crain wrote.

What did this case entail? For one thing, the Rev Spell was facing charges, charges on which he refused a plea deal, over keeping his church open despite the Governor’s order.

Here’s the crux of the entire matter:

Darrell Papillion, an attorney brought in to handle the case by Baton Rouge DA Hillar Moore’s office, replied by saying the law had been neutrally applied and that religious worship cannot be “bigger than the law.”

Yes, actually, religious worship and religious freedom can be, and should be, “bigger than the law.” That’s why it is enshrined in our Constitution!

Why, I have to ask, did the state of Louisiana continue to pursue these charges against the Rev Spell? The unconstitutional restrictions have long since been gone, so it would have made perfect sense just to drop the whole thing. Instead, Mr Spell kept appealing his case up the ladder, until he was finally exonerated. How much time and money had to be spent to slap down that obnoxious Governor?

Governor Edwards, it seems, really wanted a judgement which stated that his orders trumped the First Amendment. They didn’t, but the people of his state had to suffer for months under those orders until he lifted them himself. Justice has finally prevailed, but it took too long for that to happen.