A suit filed last week in a Florida state trial court contends that a Florida county's COVID-19 face covering requirement violates, among other things, the free exercise rights of plaintiff, a pastor. The complaint (full text) in Tillis v. Manatee County, (FL Cir. Ct., filed 8/2/2020) contends that the mask requirement violates the state constitution's free exercise clause, as well as the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act because it:
requires both clergy members like Plaintiff and churchgoers to wear masks during service or face government civil fines and punishment.... [T]he requirement to wear a mask ... infringes upon the free exercise of Plaintiff's religion by making it more difficult for him to preach and for members of the choir at his church to sing.
The Conversation reports on the lawsuit.
