RENO, Nev. (AP) — Citing limited enforcement of social distancing guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at recent protests over policing and race, a rural Nevada church is trying again to persuade a federal judge that the state’s 50-person cap on religious gatherings is unconstitutional.

A judge has scheduled a phone hearing Tuesday to consider Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley’s latest bid for a court order subjecting it to less-stringent limits placed on casinos and other businesses allowed to reopen at 50% of building capacity under distancing protocols.

“Calvary Chapel simply asks for the bare minimum required under the First Amendment: that its worship services be treated no worse than comparable secular activities,” the church’s lawyers wrote in their latest request.

“Placing a flat ban on churches that are adhering to the same social distancing protocols as these venues serves no legitimate government interests,” they said.

Their new plea for a temporary injunction — filed last week after a judge rejected their bid May 29 for an emergency order — includes a dozen photographs and video clips of scores of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder as they entered reopened Las Vegas casinos June 4.

It also takes issue with the state’s “selective enforcement” of a ban on public gatherings of more than 50, noting hundreds of Nevadans who demonstrated in Las Vegas and Reno in response to the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white officer pressed a knee into his neck in Minneapolis.

Calvary Chapel’s lawyers said Gov. Steve Sisolak retweeted a video supporting the protesters gathered closely, while Attorney General Aaron Ford offered a similarly supportive tweet that “only tepidly reminds” protesters to “do your best to comply with #COVID19 guidelines with social distancing and wearing a mask.”

“The First Amendment also protects the right to worship,” the church said. “Whether in the governor or attorney general’s eyes one person’s cause for gathering is noble while another person’s cause is not, makes no difference under the Constitution.”

The state’s latest filing Monday said it was “ridiculous” to suggest the “inability to prevent spontaneous protests or to force local law enforcement to arrest all those who violate” the public-gathering ban favors “protests over church services.”

“Without dispute, these events have raised serious discussions pertaining to policing and race,” Deputy Solicitor Craig Newby wrote Monday. He noted that “others have attempted to co-opt these peaceful protests with acts of violence,” a Las Vegas police officer was seriously injured and Reno police were forced to use tear gas to disperse looters.

“Making efforts to maintain a safe community is not a restriction on the contest of anyone’s expression,” Newby said. “Nevada has rational reasons for reopening its most highly-regulated industry and for how to address public unrest."

At 50% capacity, Calvary Chapel said it could accommodate 90 people spaced 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart per 45-minute service at the 200-capacity church east of Reno. It emphasized there's no limitation on casino hours "or how long patrons may sit at a gaming table or slot machine.”

“The governor supposedly believes that those who gather in houses of worship pose a unique threat of transmitting COVID-19,” it said. “Churches do not deserve to be singled out.”

The state countered that the 50-person cap is less stringent than the outright ban on sporting events, concerts, musical performances and live entertainment.

Museums, art galleries, zoos and trade schools are allowed 50 people or 50% capacity — whichever is less — and movie theaters are subject to the 50-person cap, “no better than religious services,” Newby said.

“It is not the place of Calvary, its counsel, or this court to second guess the emergency decisions empowered to the state’s elected leaders during this crisis," Newby said.