The Department of Justice announced it will aid a Virginia church suing Gov. Ralph Northam after a pastor was threatened with jail time or a $2,500 fine for hosting a 16-person church service on Palm Sunday. According to Northam’s shelter-in-place restrictions, churches cannot hold services with more than 10 people.

The DOJ filed a Statement of Interest in a Virginia federal court citing freedom of religion in support of Lighthouse Fellowship Church, a congregation in Chincoteague Island, Virginia. According to the DOJ’s statement, the congregation serves, among others, recovering drug addicts and former prostitutes. //

“The church held a sixteen-person worship service in its 225-seat sanctuary while maintaining rigorous social-distancing and personal-hygiene protocols. Northam’s executive order bans in-person religious services of more than 10 people, meanwhile it permits gatherings of more than 10 people in non-essential retail businesses such as liquor stores, dry cleaners, department stores, and more. //

The DOJ believes Northam’s executive order violates Lighthouse Fellowship Church’s constitutional right to exercise freedom of religion, and argue the order specifically attacks religious gatherings while permitting secular activities to take place without restrictions.