Order Denying Emergency Consideration — Calvary Chapel v. Sisolak

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada · No. 3:20-cv-00303-MMD-CLB · Doc. 16 · 2020-05-29 · Docket on CourtListener

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 
 
DISTRICT OF NEVADA 
 
* * * 
 
CALVARY CHAPEL DAYTON VALLEY, 
 
Plaintiff, 
 
v. 
 
STEVE SISOLAK, in his official capacity 
as Governor of Nevada, et al., 
 
Defendants. 
 
Case No. 3:20-cv-00303-MMD-CLB 
 
ORDER 
 
“Emergency motions should be rare.” LR 7-4(b). Yet Plaintiff filed its Emergency 
Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction (“Motion”) around 
3:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 28, 2020, asking the Court to enjoin enforcement of state 
emergency directives imposed in response to the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 
(“COVID-19”), to allow Plaintiff to resume in-person worship services by Sunday, May 31, 
2020. (ECF No. 9.) Plaintiff explained that May 31 is Pentecost Sunday, the celebration 
that “commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other disciples 
following the Crucifixion, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus Christ . . . and it marks the 
beginning of the Christian church’s mission to the world.” (ECF No. 9-2 at 1-2.) The Court 
has no doubt as to the significance of Pentecost Sunday to Plaintiff and its members’ 
sincerely held religious convictions. However, Plaintiff has not demonstrated the diligence 
required to warrant emergency relief under the circumstances presented here.   
Plaintiff initiated this action on May 22, 2020 (ECF No. 1), but waited until May 28, 
2020 to file the Motion asking for an emergency ruling, essentially giving the Court one 
business day to allow for briefing, a hearing,1 and a ruling. Further, the restrictions that 
 
1The Motion asks for oral argument. (ECF No. 9 at 1.) 
 
Case 3:20-cv-00303-MMD-CLB   Document 16   Filed 05/29/20   Page 1 of 2

 
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Plaintiff challenges were imposed on April 8, 2020, when Nevada’s Governor prohibited 
places of worship from holding in-person religious services “where ten or more persons 
may gather.”2 (ECF No. 8-10 at 4 (Directive 103, § 4).) To the extent Plaintiff was not 
certain how or when this restriction would be mitigated under the Governor’s phased 
reopening plan, Plaintiff still filed this action on May 22, 2020, and should have—at a 
minimum—sought the relief sought in the Motion then. Waiting until one business day 
before Pentecost Sunday to ask for emergency relief is simply unreasonable. For this 
reason, the Court declines to rule on the Motion on an emergency basis by May 31, 2020. 
However, the Court will direct expedited briefing on the Motion. 
It is therefore ordered that the request in Plaintiff’s Motion for an emergency ruling 
by May 31, 2020 is denied. 
It is further ordered that Defendants have until June 2, 2020 to file their response 
to the Motion, and Plaintiff has until June 3, 2020 to file their reply. A telephonic hearing 
will likely be scheduled for June 4, 2020, to the extent the Court determines a hearing is 
necessary. 
DATED THIS 29th day of May 2020. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
MIRANDA M. DU 
  
 
 
 
 
 
CHIEF UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 
 
2The gathering limit increases to up to 50 people on May 29, 2020 under Phase 
Two of the state’s reopening plan. (ECF No. 8 at 12.) 
Case 3:20-cv-00303-MMD-CLB   Document 16   Filed 05/29/20   Page 2 of 2

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