As Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D-Minn.) begins to face more scrutiny after being selected as Kamala Harris’ running mate, some critics have drawn attention to his long history of oppressing churches and cracking down on religious freedom as governor.

According to the Daily Caller, Walz’ lockdown policies during the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic were the primary reason for the lawsuits his administration faced, alleging that he enacted stricter rules on churches and religious groups than he did on regular businesses. In his executive order on May 13th, 2020, Walz declared that retailers and other businesses could operate at 50% capacity, but churches and religious gatherings were to remain at just 10 people or less. He then agreed to raise it to 25% after Catholic and Lutheran churches vowed to defy his order.

This policy led to two different lawsuits alleging religious discrimination. After the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuits was denied, Walz settled with both churches in May of 2021, agreeing to treat churches the same way that they treated “the least restricted secular business regulated by the order.”

Another three churches sued the Walz Administration in August of 2020, with the backing of the Thomas More Society, further alleging discrimination as a result of Walz’ mask mandates, capacity caps, and social distancing mandates. The Minnesota Supreme Court ultimately upheld Walz’s use of a “peacetime emergency declaration” during COVID.

In addition, he signed a bill into law that would deny access by faith-based schools to a program that offered free college credits to high school students. The legislation in question forbade schools that require statements of faith from the students from being eligible for the state’s Post Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) program. A lawsuit was filed against this particular law in May of 2023, and the state agreed to not enforce the law while the lawsuit is still ongoing.