Case 6:22-cv-06486-JLS Document 56 Filed 12/29/22 Page 9 of 36
Moreover, the heightened standard does not apply to “any [request for an] injunction where the final relief for the plaintiff would simply be a continuation of the preliminary relief.” Tom Doherty Assocs., 60 F.3d at 34. Instead, the heightened standard applies when the injunction “will render a trial on the merits largely or partly meaningless, either because of temporal concerns”—like a case involving a live, televised event scheduled for the day the court granted preliminary relief—“or because of the nature of the subject of the litigation”—like a case involving disclosure of confidential information. Id. at 35. If a preliminary injunction “will make it difficult or impossible to render a meaningful remedy to a defendant who prevails on the merits at trial,” then the heightened standard applies; “[o]therwise, there is no reason to impose a higher standard.” Id.
In this case, Plaintiffs request that this Court “preliminarily enjoin Defendants from enforcing” the houses of worship exclusion “against Pastor Spencer and His Tabernacle Church, Inc.” Dkt. 13-3, at 3. This request seeks to prohibit Defendants from enforcing the new houses of worship exclusion; it does not seek an order requiring Defendants to act. In other words, Plaintiffs seeks to restore the status that existed before implementation of the houses of worship exclusion. They therefore seeks a prohibitory—not a mandatory—injunction. As stated in Hardaway, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights represent the status quo—not
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