No. ________ IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES ELIM ROMANIAN PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, and LOGOS BAPTIST MINISTRIES, Applicants, v. JAY R. PRITZKER, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Illinois, Respondent. To The Honorable Brett M. Kavanaugh, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and Circuit Justice for the Seventh Circuit EMERGENCY APPLICATION FOR WRIT OF INJUNCTION RELIEF REQUESTED BEFORE MAY 31, 2020 Mathew D. Staver, Counsel of Record Horatio G. Mihet Roger K. Gannam Daniel J. Schmid LIBERTY COUNSEL P.O. Box 540774 Orlando, Florida 32854 (407) 875-1776
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[email protected] Attorneys for Applicants PARTIES AND DISCLOSURE STATEMENT Applicants are Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church (“ERPC”) and Logos Baptist Ministries (“Logos”), neither of which has any parent corporation or publicly held shareholder. Respondent is Jay R. Pritzker, in his official capacity as Governor of the State of Illinois. RELIEF REQUESTED AND GROUNDS FOR EMERGENCY “Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will.” Everson v. Bd. of Educ. of Ewing Twp., 330 U.S. 1, 15 (1947). ERPC and Logos (collectively, “Churches”), pursuant to Sup. Ct. Rules 20, 22 and 23, and 28 U.S.C. § 1651, request an emergency writ of injunction before this Sunday, May 31—the Christian holy day of Pentecost—against enforcement of Governor Pritzker’s stay-at-home executive orders and Reopen Illinois plan (collectively, the “Orders”) which impose a unique 10-person limit on religious worship services that is not imposed on customers or employees of ‘big box’ retail stores, liquor stores, restaurants, office buildings, warehouses, factories, or other businesses and activities which, like worship services, have been deemed “Essential” by Governor Pritzker.