UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ PLEASANT VIEW BAPTIST CHURCH; PLEASANT VIEW │ BAPTIST SCHOOL; PASTOR DALE MASSENGALE; │ VERITAS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY; MARYVILLE BAPTIST │ CHURCH; MICAH CHRISTIAN SCHOOL; PASTOR JACK │ No. 21-6028 ROBERTS; MAYFIELD CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH; > MAYFIELD CREEK CHRISTIAN SCHOOL; PASTOR TERRY │ NORRIS; FAITH BAPTIST CHURCH; FAITH BAPTIST │ ACADEMY; PASTOR TOM OTTO; WESLEY DETERS and │ MITCH DETERS, on behalf of themselves and their │ minor children M.D., W.D., and S.D.; CENTRAL │ BAPTIST CHURCH; CENTRAL BAPTIST ACADEMY; │ PASTOR MARK EATON; CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN │ SCHOOL; CORNERSTONE CHRISTIAN CHURCH; JOHN │ MILLER, on behalf of himself and his minor children │ B.M., E.M., and H.M., │ Plaintiffs-Appellants, │ │ │ v. │ │ ANDY BESHEAR, in his individual capacity, │ Defendant-Appellee. │ ┘ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky at Covington. No. 2:20-cv-00166—Gregory F. Van Tatenhove, District Judge.

Argued: December 8, 2022

Decided and Filed: August 14, 2023

Before: MOORE, STRANCH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ARGUED: Christopher Wiest, CHRIS WIEST, ATTY AT LAW, PLLC, Crestview Hills, Kentucky, for Appellants. Taylor Payne, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, Frankfort, Kentucky, No. 21-6028 Pleasant View Baptist Church, et al. v. Beshear Page 2

for Appellee. ON BRIEF: Christopher Wiest, CHRIS WIEST, ATTY AT LAW, PLLC, Crestview Hills, Kentucky, Thomas B. Bruns, BRUNS CONNELL VOLLMAR & ARMSTRONG, Cincinnati, Ohio, for Appellants. Taylor Payne, Travis Mayo, OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR, Frankfort, Kentucky, for Appellee.

MOORE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which STRANCH, J., joined in full. MURPHY, J. (pp. 20–25), delivered a separate concurring in the judgment.

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OPINION _________________

KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. A group of churches, private religious schools, affiliated pastors, and the parents of students who sued on behalf of themselves and their minor children (collectively “Plaintiffs”) sued Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky in his individual capacity for alleged violations of their free-exercise rights, their rights to private- school education, and their rights to assemble peacefully and associate freely. Plaintiffs allege that the Governor violated these rights when he issued Executive Order 2020-969 (“EO 2020- 969”), a public-health measure that temporarily barred in-person learning at all private and public elementary and secondary schools in Kentucky in response to a surge in COVID-19 transmission in the winter of 2020. After the parties litigated Plaintiffs’ request for a preli