<p>Three Idaho churchgoers who were arrested last fall for not wearing masks at an outdoor service are suing city authorities for violating their constitutional rights.</p>
<p>The Thomas More Society <a href="https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Moscow-ID-FED-Complaint-FINAL-pdf.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">filed a lawsuit</a> this week on behalf of Gabriel Rench, Sean Bohnet, and Rachel Bohnet against the City of Moscow, Idaho, as well as the city&#8217;s supervisor, police chief, prosecuting attorneys, and the arresting police officers.</p>
<p>Rench and the Bohnets <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/high-hypocrisy-5-cited-3-arrested-at-outdoor-church-service-in-idaho-after-not-wearing-masks" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">made national news</a> last September when approximately 300 people assembled outdoors to sing psalms in front of city hall in Moscow, a town of approximately 25,000 people about 80 miles south of Spokane, Washington.</p>
<p>Organized by Christ Church, a prominent evangelical congregation in the town, the event consisted of about 20 minutes of singing and was intended in part to protest Moscow Mayor Bill Lambert&#8217;s repeatedly extended mask mandate. Upon learning of the planned event, city officials had arranged small yellow dots six feet apart in the parking lot as guidance for the participants.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="MPD arrest Christians singing outside for “not social distancing.”" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9uRolZF77nk?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Speaking exclusively to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/idaho-church-deacon-arrested-outdoor-service-discusses-victory-against-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Daily Wire</a> after a county magistrate judge <a href="https://www.thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Order-to-Dismiss-ID-Singing.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">threw out the city&#8217;s case against him</a> in January, Rench explained that police approached his mother during the psalm sing and asked if she was with him. A mother standing with her son was presumably acceptable because she was family, but when Rench placed his arm around his friend and told the officers that he was also with him, they asked for his identification.</p>
<p><a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/stop-and-id-states" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">State law</a> does not require Idaho residents to identify themselves to law enforcement if they are not driving.</p>
<p>Rench refused to provide it, urging the officers instead to join him in exercising his First Amendment rights, at which point he was cuffed and led away to the county jail along with the Bohnets. The jail had to turn the lights on to incarcerate the group, where they were detained for several hours after being cited with violating the face mask and social distancing order.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p><iframe loading="lazy" title="3 arrested at Moscow church&#039;s &#039;worship protest&#039; for violating  COVID-19 orders" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zlkIC0V7buc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Sean Bohnet, who was placed in a small cell with Rench, noted the irony of the fact that for all their hand-wringing over wearing masks outside, law enforcement did not seem too worried about ensuring they were worn in jail.</p>
<p>“We thought a city that would premeditatively break the law in order to detain and jail those lawfully not wearing masks would at least offer one to incarcerated people,” Bohnet said. “However, we were in good company. Staff at the jail occasionally had no issue with letting their faces freely shine too.”</p>
<p>Thomas More Society special counsel Michael Jacques, who is representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire that Moscow &#8220;violated its own ordinance when law enforcement wrongly arrested&#8221; his clients.</p>
<p>As the city prosecutor conceded when he motioned to dismiss the city&#8217;s case in January, city codes allow the mayor to issue public health emergency orders, but that exemptions, unless specifically prohibited, include &#8220;any and all expressive and associative activity protected by the U.S. and Idaho constitutions, including speech, press, assembly, and/or religious activity.&#8221;</p>
<p>Jacques also laid blame upon the law enforcement officers who arrested them, claiming they &#8220;demonstrated reckless indifference to the defendants’ First Amendment rights.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;These worshippers had participated in a church sing in the past under the same mask ordinance without any issues and were exercising their freedom as Americans to worship as the Constitution allows,&#8221; Jacques explained. “However, the city was so eager to make an example of Christ Church’s opposition to its restrictive COVID rules that the officers failed to follow the mandatory exemptions listed in the city ordinance.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;A motto of government in prosecuting its citizens is that ‘ignorance of the law is no defense,’ and when they recklessly deprive its citizens of their freedoms, ignorance will not be a defense for the government,&#8221; Jacques added.</p>
<p>The lawsuit alleges that law enforcement were aware of the First Amendment protections within the mayor&#8217;s emergency order when they arrested Rench and the Bohnets, and claims their rights were violated under the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment.</p>
<p>Noting the charges against them were dismissed only after they were publicly humiliated and slapped with legal fees, Jacques said, “The lives of Mr. Rench and the Bohnets were disrupted not only by the inappropriate actions of law enforcement officers, but also by the city’s prosecuting attorney and other officials who did not immediately act to negate their unlawful detainment.&#8221;</p>
<p>After the psalm sing incident, the Moscow City Council changed their ordinance regarding public health emergencies to ensure it applies to all persons and activities in Moscow, even political speech. Jacques asserts such a revision renders the ordinance unconstitutional on its face, and he maintained during a Wednesday press conference that the lawsuit is mainly intended to stress to local authorities their constitutional limitations.</p>
<p>Rench said the Moscow City Council is sowing discord in the town with their unwillingness to acknowledge how they were violating basic rights. &#8220;Instead, the city council revised its order to target myself and others who would exercise their constitutional rights,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The council’s actions have fragmented Moscow and increased hostility in the broader community.”</p>
<p>As Rench <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/idaho-church-deacon-arrested-outdoor-service-discusses-victory-against-state" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">told</a> The Daily Wire in January, he has become somewhat of a pariah in the overwhelmingly liberal university town, even after being absolved by the court. “Even after I won and got my case dismissed, a lot of liberals in the community were mad at the city for dismissing the case. They were mad at the judge for dismissing my case. So I was right, and yet I was still wrong to the liberals in our community.” He said he has been flipped off and cussed out by some of his fellow Moscow residents.</p>
<p>Nathan Wilson, the son of Christ Church senior pastor Douglas Wilson, has also found himself and his family at odds with the Moscow police and city government, as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-little-too-soviet-grandsons-of-idaho-pastor-slapped-with-13-criminal-charges-for-protesting-lockdowns-with-stickers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Daily Wire recently reported</a>. Describing how his native Moscow has changed since the pandemic, he said, &#8220;It’s just kind of sad to discover where we are now and what all this COVID tension and all these mask orders and everything else have turned us into.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>Related</strong>: <strong><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-little-too-soviet-grandsons-of-idaho-pastor-slapped-with-13-criminal-charges-for-protesting-lockdowns-with-stickers" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">‘A Little Too Soviet’: Grandsons Of Idaho Pastor Slapped With 13 Criminal Charges For Protesting Lockdowns With Stickers</a></strong></p>

<script async src="https://www.tiktok.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><div data-widget-host="revcontent" data-pub-id="165152" data-widget-id="290588"></div><script src="https://delivery.revcontent.com/165152/290588/widget.js"></script>

Idaho Churchgoers Sue Police, City Government After Being Arrested For Not Wearing Masks Outside

Afghan Ally Says He Expects To Be Left Behind And Killed: ‘I’m Going To Die For A Good Thing’

WH, State Dept Reportedly Blocking Efforts To Rescue Afghan Christians: ‘Out-And-Out Evil’

Biden Admits To Being Instructed Which Reporters To Call On; Trump Press Sec Condemns

Biden Crumples At Mic In Response To Questions From Fox News About Afghanistan

‘Satanic’: Carlson, Whitlock Agree Left Driven By Ideas ‘In Direct Objection To God’

Canadian Pastor Who Faces 4-Year Jail Sentence For ‘Inciting’ Church Warns Americans: ‘The Enemy Is Not Hiding Anymore’

News and Commentary

COVID

Face Masks

Idaho

Religion

A video goes viral showing a baby being refused his mother by two gay "dads". This is just the tip of the iceberg, which is why we will have an important discussion today about surrogacy. 

Hour 1

The Matt Walsh Show

Ep. 1765 - This Video Is One Of The Worst Things I've Seen In A Long Time 

The Strait of Hormuz officially opens for business (kind of), the Pope makes “shocking” comments on immigration, and President Trump promises UFO disclosure at TPUSA. 


The Michael Knowles Show

Ep. 1956 -  Pope Leo's "SHOCKING" Immigration Comments EXPLAINED

A false miscreed has corrupted our leadership class.


The Andrew Klavan Show

Ep. 1275 - Dumb, Dumber and Progressive

President Trump announces a 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, a murder-suicide involving former Democratic Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax shakes Virginia, and France and Britain hold a conference to secure the Strait of Hormuz – after the Iranian conflict ends. Get the facts first with Morning Wire.

- - -

Ep. 2738

- - -

Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3

- - -

Today's Sponsors:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text 'WIRE' to 83848 to learn more.

Pocket Hose - Text MORNING to 64000 to get a FREE pocket pivot and their 10-pattern sprayer with the purchase of ANY size Copper Head hose. Message and data rates may apply.

Morning Wire

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26

U.S. Expands Hormuz Blockade & VA Fairfax Deaths Investigated | 4.17.26 [Member Exclusive]

A ceasefire goes into effect between Israel and Lebanon, a tragic murder-suicide rocks Virginia, and Dairy Queen deploys AI in the drive-thru. Get the facts first with Evening Wire.
- - -
Ep. 2737
- - -
Wake up with new Morning Wire merch: https://bit.ly/4lIubt3 
- - -
Today’s Sponsor:

Alliance Defending Freedom - Visit https://JoinADF.com/WIRE or text “WIRE” to 83848 to learn more.


Evening Wire: Lebanon Ceasefire Begins & Murder-Suicide Rocks VA | 4.16.26

The Pendragon Cycle

Menu

— News and Commentary —

Idaho Churchgoers Sue Police, City Government After Being Arrested For Not Wearing Masks Outside