The Department of Justice has stepped in to help a church who is suing a Mississippi for ticketing its congregants who attended a drive-in service.

According to Fox News:

EXCLUSIVE: The Justice Department intervened in a Mississippi church’s lawsuit by saying in a court filing that it “strongly suggests that the city’s actions target religious conduct” after the church sued police for ticketing congregants during a drive-in service amid coronavirus, Fox News has learned.

The Justice Department is siding with Temple Baptist Church in Greenville, Miss., after Greenville police officers began issuing $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where the church was holding a drive-in service.

In the statement of interest obtained exclusively by Fox News on Tuesday, the Justice Department said the U.S. regularly files statements of interest on “important issues of religious liberty in courts at every level, from trial courts to the Supreme Court of the United States.” It noted that Attorney General Bill Barr has “issued comprehensive guidance interpreting religious-liberty protections” under the Constitution.

“This case raises issues of national public importance regarding the interplay between the government’s compelling interest in protecting public health and safety from COVID-19 and citizens’ fundamental right to free exercise of religion,” the filing states.

The church is challenging the Mayor’s executive order which makes drive-in church services illegal until the shelter-in-place order is lifted.