KS Gov. Kelly agrees to extended order against her for targeting churches, then tries to spin in her favor

The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Ryan Tucker regarding Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly’s agreement Saturday, as part of an agreed motion filed in First Baptist Church v. Kelly, to fix her COVID-19 mass gathering ban that unconstitutionally targets churches and, in the meantime, subject herself to a 14-day extension of the court-imposed temporary restraining order issued against her:

“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. 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.’ As noted in the court’s order against her, the churches themselves created and proposed those safety protocols long ago—protocols that the governor refused to consider 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. We reserve the right to continue litigating this matter if Gov. 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.”

The court must still approve the Agreed Motion to Extend Temporary Restraining Order against Defendant Governor Laura Kelly signed by counsel for all parties.