Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/20pdf/20a96_e29g.pdf
Page Number: 4

Cite as:  592 U. S. ____ (2020) 

1 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES 

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No. 20A96 
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DANVILLE CHRISTIAN ACADEMY, INC., ET AL v. 
ANDY BESHEAR, GOVERNOR OF KENTUCKY 

ON APPLICATION TO VACATE STAY 

[December 17, 2020] 

  JUSTICE GORSUCH, with whom JUSTICE ALITO joins, dis-
senting from the denial of application to vacate stay. 
  Four weeks ago, the Governor of Kentucky issued two ex-
ecutive orders.  One (the School EO) closed all elementary, 
middle, and high schools—including religious ones—for in-
person learning, while leaving preschools, colleges, and uni-
versities untouched.  The other (the Business EO) permit-
ted virtually all other in-person activities to continue with 
only capacity restrictions.  Movie theaters, indoor wedding 
venues, bowling alleys, and gaming halls remained open for 
business. 
  Religious schools challenged these decrees as a violation 
of the First Amendment, and the district court agreed with 
them.  The court “wonder[ed] why” people “would be free to 
attend  a  lecture,  go  to  work,  or  attend  a  concert,  but  not 
attend socially distanced chapel in school or pray together 
in a classroom that is following strict safety procedures and 
social  distancing.”    Danville  Christian  Academy,  Inc.  v. 
Beshear, 2020 WL 6954650, *4 (ED Ky., Nov. 25, 2020).  In 
the  end, the court  held  that the Governor’s  EOs  discrimi-
nated against the free exercise of religion and enjoined their 
enforcement  against  religious  schools,  so  long  as  those 
schools  followed  all  applicable  sanitization  and  social  dis-
tancing protocols. 
  The  Sixth  Circuit  stayed  the  district  court’s  injunction.  
Commonwealth  of  Kentucky,  Atty.  Gen.  Daniel  Cameron,