Gov. Jared Polis must respond to Andrew Wommack Ministries International emergency request for an injunction pending appeal by 5 p.m. Sunday, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Friday.

The court’s order was issued about three hours after Wommack’s lawyers from Liberty Counsel, a conservative legal nonprofit based in Florida, filed the emergency motion to Colorado’s Court of Appeals.

The ruling comes as Wommack’s annual Ministers’ Conference begins Monday at 7 p.m. at the Charis Bible Campus in Woodland Park.

Federal judge denies injunction, restraining order in Andrew Wommack Ministries lawsuit over religious gathering limits

A U.S. Denver District Court judge denied Andrew Wommack Ministries’ lawsuit filed earlier this week calling for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to override Colorado’s 175-person limit on religious gatherings under COVID-19 restrictions.

Doing so would “present a high risk of harm to the state of Colorado as well as the public in general,” U.S. District Judge Christine Arguello wrote in her ruling.

Public health officials blamed a conference Wommack held in late June on the campus on causing a spike in COVID-19 cases in Teller County.

Andrew Wommack Ministries sues Gov. Polis, health departments over religious gathering limits (copy)

Wommack’s lawyers appealed the ruling under an emergency condition.

The lawsuit claims Polis’ executive orders on COVID-19 restrictions give preferential treatment to nonreligious gatherings over religious gatherings.

The argument cites the June reopening of casinos in Cripple Creek, also located in Teller County, with gaming businesses exceeding the 175-cap on public gatherings, along with claims of discrimination against religious organizations and First Amendment violations.