Calvary Chapel of Bangor v. Mills, 52 F.4th 40

In March 2020 Maine Governor Janet Mills declared a COVID-19 state of emergency and issued a series of executive orders that initially barred gatherings over 10 people and later created staged reopening rules that treated many faith-based services differently from "essential" businesses.
Calvary Chapel of Bangor sued in May 2020 alleging the gathering orders discriminated against religious worship (First Amendment and other claims) and sought injunctive and declaratory relief.
The Governor amended orders over 2020–21 (raising limits to 50, adding occupancy-based rules, and later granting higher limits specifically to houses of worship), and by May 13, 2021 eliminated indoor gathering and in-store limits.
The district court dismissed Calvary’s suit as moot in June 2021 because the challenged restrictions were no longer in effect and the Governor had ended the state of emergency (June 30, 2021); Calvary appealed.
The First Circuit affirmed, holding the dispute moot and rejecting Calvary’s reliance on mootness exceptions, and awarded costs to the Governor.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Mootness — Is there a live Article III case or controversy?	Calvary: the complaint challenges the "regime" and is therefore ongoing; restrictions could return.	Gov: gathering limits and state of emergency ended, so no live controversy.	Case is moot; dismissal affirmed.
Voluntary-cessation exception — Did the Governor’s cessation avoid mootness?	Calvary: Governor retained power and could reinstate restrictions; voluntary cessation exception applies.	Gov: changes were based on public-health data, unrelated to litigation, and it is absolutely clear restrictions won’t reasonably recur.	Exception does not apply; cessation was not a litigation sham.
Capable-of-repetition-yet-evading-review — Does exception save the case?	Calvary: pandemic restrictions are short and likely to recur against the same party.	Gov: no reasonable expectation the same plaintiff will face the same restrictions again.	Exception fails; no reasonable expectation of recurrence.
Waiver of alternative claims (as-applied, permanent injunction, Guarantee Clause)	Calvary: these preserve issues despite mootness.	Gov: Calvary failed to press those arguments below, so they are waived.	Court finds these arguments waived for failure to raise in district court.

Bos. Bit Labs, Inc. v. Baker, 11 F.4th 3 (1st Cir. 2021) (mootness principles in COVID-era challenges and limits on suits once restrictions end)
Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Env't Servs. (TOC), Inc., 528 U.S. 167 (2000) (voluntary cessation exception requires it be "absolutely clear" the conduct will not recur)
Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., 568 U.S. 85 (2013) (preventing strategic cessation to evade judicial review)
Weinstein v. Bradford, 423 U.S. 147 (1975) (elements of "capable of repetition yet evading review" exception)
Arizonans for Official Eng. v. Arizona, 520 U.S. 43 (1997) (case-or-controversy must exist at all stages of review)
Murphy v. Hunt, 455 U.S. 478 (1982) (theoretical possibility of recurrence is insufficient for exception)
Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Int'l v. UAL Corp., 897 F.2d 1394 (7th Cir. 1990) (relief must make a practical difference to litigants to avoid mootness)