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Delaware Supreme Court ends lawsuit to keep governor’s emergency orders away from worship

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Delaware Supreme Court ends lawsuit to keep governor’s emergency orders away from worship


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The Delaware Supreme Court has agreed with two lower courts that dismissed lawsuits filed by two pastors seeking to prevent the state’s governor from imposing future restrictions on religious worship.

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In its opinion issued Thursday, the court said freedom of religion is an essential tenet of democracy and restrictions on religious worship must be viewed with a great deal of skepticism. But the judiciary is not the forum to debate and resolve hypothetical questions regarding the constitutionality of restrictions that were lifted long before any legal action was filed.

“Moreover, public officials who act under emergent conditions and make careful, discretionary decisions based on the best information available are immune from personal liability if those actions are later determined to be contrary to the law,” the five justices said in the opinion. “For those reasons, we agree with our trial courts that the appellants’ claims could not proceed.”

Gov. John Carney’s office did not respond to a Thursday email seeking comment. Lawyers at the Neuberger Firm, one of the firms representing the pastors, said they were still digesting the ruling.

“We have 90 days to look into that which may be an error in an area not often before our state courts,” Attorney Thomas S. Neuberger said.

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What the lawsuits argued

The Rev. Alan Hines, of Townsend Free Will Baptist Church in Townsend, and the Rev. David Landow, of Emmanuel Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, filed the lawsuits in late 2021 seeking an injunction against future emergency orders that place restrictions on houses of worship such as those imposed by Carney in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic spread.

The pastors had sought a declaration that Carney’s emergency orders were illegal, including:

  • Prohibiting in-person Sunday religious services
  • Preventing indoor preaching.
  • Banning singing.
  • Barring the elderly from church.
  • Prohibiting Baptism.
  • Prohibiting the Lord’s Supper.
  • Favoring Jewish circumcisions over Christian baptisms.

More: Lawsuits ask that governors’ emergency orders keep their ‘hands off’ houses of worship

The pastors’ lawsuits claimed Carney’s emergency orders early in the pandemic denied them their “absolute religious freedoms.”

Through their lawsuits, the pastors asked Carney and future Delaware governors to keep their “hands off” the church in future emergencies, regardless of any pretense they may offer.

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In Carney’s motion to dismiss the case, his attorneys argued the governor is immune from damages for the alleged violations. They also argued for dismissal because the pastors’ violations of rights were “past exposure,” which is “insufficient to demonstrate that there is a current case or controversy entitling them to declaratory relief.”

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court said all the restrictions challenged by the pastors were lifted by June 2020 — more than 18 months before the pastors filed suit in the Chancery Court. That action, seeking injunctive relief against restrictions that no longer were in effect, was dismissed by Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster after he concluded Chancery Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction.

More: Why a Delaware judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging future COVID-19 restrictions

The Supreme Court then pointed out the pastors transferred the lawsuit to state Superior Court, where Judge Meghan A. Adams also dismissed the action, saying the pastors’ claims for declaratory relief were not capable of being decided by legal principles or by a court of justice. Adams also concluded the governor was immune from being sued for the damages claims.

More: Why a second judge dismissed lawsuits to stop Delaware governor from restricting worship

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In a 45-page opinion, the state Supreme Court agreed with both lower courts.

While the case might appear to be done for now, Neuberger’s firm said the state’s highest court made it clear that governors can never issue such orders again and referred to the final page of the opinion where justices wrote:

“Case law that has developed since the Challenged Restrictions were lifted support the view that the restrictions violated Appellants’ rights. Well after the Challenged Restrictions were lifted, the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, in which the Court held that a church and synagogue established that they would likely prevail in proving that occupancy limitations at public places of worship violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. A future governor confronted with a future public-health emergency would have the benefit of that precedent, but it was not available at the time Appellee made the decisions at issue.”

Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.



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Delaware

Sussex County blocks state-approved plan for medical marijuana biz to open store

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Sussex County blocks state-approved plan for medical marijuana biz to open store


Chip Guy, the Sussex County spokesman, said Stark was mistaken in believing the county was awarding her a building permit.

“To be clear, the county DID NOT issue a building permit,’’ Guy said in an emailed response to questions about The Farm’s bid to put astore in Sussex.

Guy said an official “notified the applicant that the building plan review [tenant fit-out] had cleared initial steps. That is but one step that is part of the process in determining whether to issue a building permit in the first place.”

Guy said the county’s “due diligence’’ found that The Farm’s location simply did not qualify for approval.

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Stark remains flabbergasted by the decision, saying she had relied on the state’s approval of the location as well as the state’s identified patient need for that area of Sussex.

“In my mind, when they approved that location and we started spending money and had rent to pay, and drawings put together, and had to start seeking other approvals and permits, it was an established use,” Stark said.

Robert Coupe, the state’s marijuana commissioner, said the state’s hands are tied as long as the current state law remains in effect.

“There’s nothing for me to do. They have to fight that fight,’’ Coupe said of Stark.

Coupe, whose office will soon issue 30 licenses for retail recreational marijuana stores statewide, added that Sussex’s “three-mile buffer, as it currently exists, definitely presents challenges for our selected applicants” in Sussex, where 10 retail licenses will be granted.

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“If it appears that it will be difficult for them to find areas to operate, probably a focus for them will be on specific towns that have said they will allow operations,” he said.

Guy, who has not agreed to do any interviews on the Sussex law, wrote last month that he disagrees with the assertion that no parcels exist in unincorporated Sussex for retail stores. Yet he would not identify any permitted sites, or consent to a request by WHYY News to analyze the zoning map to find any.

Stark said she has spoken to a lawyer about her options, and if her efforts fail, is also considering whether to find a site elsewhere in Sussex, perhaps within the town limits of Frankford, which hasn’t banned cannabis stores.

“It’s ridiculous,’’ Stark said of her company’s predicament in Sussex. “And more people just need to know it’s ridiculous.”

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Delaware

U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms

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U.S. House GOP bans Delaware’s U.S. Rep. from same-sex bathrooms


From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, has introduced legislation that would bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms and other facilities on federal property.

It comes just a few days after she filed a resolution intended to institute a bathroom ban in parts of the U.S. Capitol complex that she said was targeted at Delaware Congresswoman-elect Sarah McBride, a Democrat, who First State voters elected to serve as the first openly transgender person in Congress just two weeks ago.

Mace said to reporters Monday that McBride, who she misgendered during her comments, didn’t “belong in women’s spaces, bathrooms and locker rooms.”

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While not specifically mentioning Mace’s bills, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement Wednesday dictating that House policy in January would ban transgender women from using facilities — like bathrooms and locker rooms — that do not correspond with the sex they were assigned at birth.

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” Johnson said in a statement. It was not clear how the policy would be enforced.

“Each Member office has its own private restroom, and unisex restrooms are available throughout the Capitol,” he added.

Mace’s resolution, which she said she wanted to be included in the rules package for the next Congress, requires the House sergeant at arms to enforce the ban.



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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle

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Delaware Co. woman charged with DUI after crashing into Pennsylvania state police vehicle


Wednesday, November 20, 2024 10:33PM

A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

RIDLEY TWP., Pa. (WPVI) — A Drexel Hill woman has been charged with DUI after investigators say she crashed into a Pennsylvania State Police vehicle on I-476.

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Police say Sara Lawver crashed into the troopers’ patrol car in Ridley Township just after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Troopers were conducting a traffic stop at the time and barely avoided being hit.

No one was injured.

Lawver also faces charges of reckless driving and recklessly endangering another person.

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