NEW ORLEANS – An outspoken conservative Christian attorney from Alabama has asked a federal appeals court to revive a Louisiana pastor’s damage claims against state officials over expired COVID-19 restrictions.
A federal judge this year dismissed minister Tony Spell’s lawsuit against Gov. John Bel Edwards and others over the ban’s implementation. Spell drew national attention for violating restrictions early in the pandemic at his church in Central, near Baton Rouge.
One of Spell’s attorneys is Roy Moore, former Alabama Supreme Court justice and Senate candidate. Moore insisted in arguments this week before a panel of judges from the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals that the state had no authority to restrict church gatherings.
Panel members appeared skeptical of that claim in recorded arguments held Monday in Fort Worth, Texas. But they raised the question of whether Spell’s church was unfairly restricted, compared to other places of public gathering, such as mall food courts.
“They’ve treated us differently,” Moore said. “But the basis of our argument is that there is no jurisdiction to limit a church attendance.”
Spell has had legal victories in his fight with the state. The Louisiana Supreme Court in May dismissed the state charges against him, ruling 5-2 that the Edwards restrictions in effect at the time violated Spell’s freedom of religion.
But his lawsuit involving claims for damages over the collection restrictions was thrown out by U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson in Baton Rouge. Jackson ruled in January that the lawsuit was moot because the statute of limitations had long since expired.
And Jackson rejected Spell’s claim for damages from state and local officials, ruling that “there is not now and never has been a “clearly established” right to unrestricted religious assembly, and at all relevant times the defendants believed in reasonably that they were acting within the constitutional bounds established by the Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit.”
The appeals judges on Monday closely questioned Josh Force, a lawyer who argued for the Edwards administration, whether church assemblies were treated unfairly compared to other public gatherings, including mall crowds and Black Lives Matter protests. Matter.
“Isn’t the food court in the mall at least as dangerous as the worship center?” Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod asked.
Force argued that Edwards was acting under the best advice of public health officials at the time about what types of gatherings were safe.
Hearing the case were Elrod and 5th Circuit Chief Judge Priscilla Richman, both appointed to the circuit by President George W. Bush; and Judge Andrew Oldham, appointed by President Donald Trump.
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