FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA Gov. Gretchen Whitmer speaks during a drive-in campaign rally with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama at Belle Isle on October 31, 2020 in Detroit, Michigan. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/TNS) Feds side with Michigan religious schools in suit over Covid-19 restrictions DETROIT — The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with religious and private schools in Michigan that brought a lawsuit challenging the state’s latest restrictions halting in-person high school instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Justice Department last week filed a statement of interest in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in support of the plaintiff schools’ motion to halt the shutdown of in-person instruction, arguing the move was unlawful and violated the students’ constitutional right to free exercise of religion.