Commonwealth of Ky. ex rel., Danville Christian Academy Inc. v. Andrew Beshear, 981 F.3d 505

In response to a COVID-19 surge, Kentucky Governor Beshear issued Executive Order 2020-969 prohibiting in-person instruction at all public and private K–12 schools, with narrow exceptions ("small group in-person targeted services" and "private schools conducted in a home").
The order excluded preschools and colleges/universities by omission and set phased reopening dates for elementary (Dec. 7–Jan. 4) and middle/high schools (no sooner than Jan. 4).
Danville Christian Academy and other plaintiffs (private religious schools) sued, asserting Free Exercise, Establishment Clause, and Kentucky RFRA claims; they obtained a district-court preliminary injunction prohibiting enforcement of the order against religious private schools that complied with public-health measures.
Governor moved in the Sixth Circuit for a stay of that preliminary injunction pending appeal; the court evaluated the stay under Rule 8(a)(2) and the four traditional stay/preliminary-injunction factors.
The Sixth Circuit concluded plaintiffs were unlikely to succeed on the Free Exercise claim because the order is neutral and generally applicable under Employment Division v. Smith, and therefore granted the Governor’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Free Exercise challenge to K–12 ban	Order burdens religious exercise by prohibiting in-person instruction at religious schools	Order is neutral and generally applicable — applies to all K–12 schools without targeting religion	Plaintiffs unlikely to succeed; order upheld under Smith framework; stay granted
Ministerial-exception defense	Religious schools claim ministerial-exception bars government restriction on how they conduct religious education	Ministerial exception protects church autonomy over doctrine and ministers, not a blanket immunity from neutral laws	Ministerial exception does not apply here
Establishment Clause and Kentucky RFRA claims	Order violates Establishment Clause and state RFRA	Order is neutral, not motivated by hostility, and addresses public health uniformly	Plaintiffs unlikely to succeed on these claims
Stay/practical scope (irreparable harm, public interest, statewide injunction)	Injunction necessary to avoid irreparable harm to religious schools and should apply statewide	Public-health harms and deference to executive public-health judgments; likelihood of success is dispositive	Because likelihood of success is low, stay granted; court did not resolve whether district court properly applied injunction statewide

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520 (U.S. 1993) (laws that target religion are subject to strict scrutiny)
Emp. Div., Dep't of Hum. Res. of Or. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (U.S. 1990) (neutral, generally applicable laws that incidentally burden religion are not subject to strict scrutiny)
Our Lady of Guadalupe Sch. v. Morrissey-Berru, 140 S. Ct. 2049 (U.S. 2020) (ministerial-exception protects internal religious decisions but not broad immunity from neutral law)
Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak, 140 S. Ct. 2603 (U.S. 2020) (Mem.) (concurrence discussing framework for applying Smith in COVID-19 restrictions)
Roberts v. Neace, 958 F.3d 409 (6th Cir. 2020) (application of Smith to COVID-19 restrictions on worship)
Maryville Baptist Church, Inc. v. Beshear, 957 F.3d 610 (6th Cir. 2020) (per curiam) (COVID-19 restrictions on worship and analysis under Smith)
Mich. Coal. of Radioactive Material Users, Inc. v. Griepentrog, 945 F.2d 150 (6th Cir. 1991) (stay and preliminary injunction factors analysis)
City of Pontiac Retired Emps. Ass'n v. Schimmel, 751 F.3d 427 (6th Cir. 2014) (standard of review for injunctions and merits analysis)