FRANKFORT, Ky. — Governor Andy Beshear filed the response Friday to Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s challenge to the order to close religious schools due to the Coronavirus. The Supreme Court requested this response and gave Beshear until 4 pm Friday to respond. 

What You Need To Know

  • Gov. Andy Beshear files response with Supreme Court over case involving religious school closures

  • The 44-page response argues the school closings do not violate the first amendment nor does it target religion

  • Kentucky's congressional delgation came out in support of Attorney General Daniel Cameron and Danville Christian Academy

  • The Supreme Court ruled on a similar case in New York

In Beshear's 44 page response, he claims the Executive Order closing schools did not violate the first amendment nor did it target religion in any way. The response outlines the toll that COVID-19 is taking on Kentucky, including that Kentucky surpassed a positivity rate of 10% this week putting a “massive strain on Kentucky’s hospital resources, endangering not only COVID-19 patients but all sick persons within the state.” 

Last month, the Democratic governor announced that most K-12 schools must stop in-person classes until the new semester starts in January. The order was issued to help curb the spread of COVID-19. According to news reports, Cameron and Danville Christian Academy asked a federal court to issue a temporary restraining order that would block Beshear’s order from being implemented.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled in favor of Cameron and Danville Christian Academy, allowing in-person instruction at religious schools to resume immediately. But days later, a federal appeals panel upheld Beshear’s order to stop in-person classes. A three-member panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati issued a stay of a federal judge’s order. On Monday, Nov. 30, Cameron went to the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to stop the enforcement of Beshear's order. 

Friday members of Kentucky's congressional delegation are supporting the Danville Christian Academy in their opposition to Governor Andy Beshear's latest coronavirus restrictions aimed to curb community spread. 

Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Senator Rand Paul are among the lawmakers who have signed on to an amicus brief in support of Attorney General Daniel Cameron's lawsuit challenging Governor Andy Beshear's orders closing public and private schools from holding in-person classes for the rest of this year.

An amicus brief is simply put — a friend of the court. 

Their amicus brief to the Supreme Court says Beshear’s orders are not religiously neutral and that he has ignored numerous other comparable secular activities in his coronavirus mandates.

Cameron and those in support of him argue Beshear's shutdown orders trample on constitutional​ rights. The Supreme Court just ruled on a similar case of out New York in favor of allowing religious institutions to remain open. 

With a conservative majority on the high court, this is very likely a winning issue for Cameron. 

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