DOJ warns Gov. Sisolak over ban on religious gatherings

WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice has warned Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak that his ban on in-person gatherings of 10 or more people in churches and other places of worship to limit the spread of the coronavirus could violate the First Amendment.

In a letter dated on Memorial Day, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband and U.S. Attorney for Nevada Nicholas Trutanich warned that while the Democratic governor’s ban on religious services involving 10 or more people was drafted to protect the health and safety of Nevadans, the stay-at-home guidance “impermissably treats religious and nonreligious organizations unequally.”

On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that he deemed churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship to be “essential.”

“I’ll override the governors,” he warned. “Americans need more prayers, not less.”

During a ceremony in the Rose Garden Tuesday, Trump reiterated the threat.

“If I have to I will override any governor who wants to play games” … (there are) many different ways” to do that, Trump said.

In last week’s tweets, Trump suggested he would turn to the Treasury or Office of Management and Budget to pull funding from states that order shutdowns of places of worship — although his authority in that area was murky.

The Department of Justice letter followed up on Trump’s pro-prayer message by urging Sisolak to amend his emergency directives and remedy “their unequal treatment of places of worship.”

On March 17, Sisolak announced an emergency order for the Silver State that shuttered places of worship, schools, casinos and other nonessential businesses.

On May 7, Sisolak announced Phase One reopening guidance, which relaxed the rules for nonessential businesses such as restaurants, barbershops and nail salons. The new rules did not set a fixed cap on gatherings of 10 or more people in those businesses, although it did order restaurants to operate at half capacity. The per-person cap remained in force for religious gatherings.

Last week, the Calvary Chapel Lone Mountain on North Rancho Drive filed a complaint that argued the governor was wrong to force the church to remain closed while businesses could reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dreiband, who heads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Trutanich argued that Nevada’s rule “impermissibly treats religious and nonreligious organizations unequally.”

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Review-Journal early Tuesday.

The Department sent similar letters to California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Norman, Oklahoma, Mayor Breea Clark and joined court cases in Illinois, Mississippi and Virginia involving the closure of religious facilities by the states.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.