The Supreme Court late Wednesday blocked New York officials from limiting religious gatherings, a win for Orthodox Jews who had sued over restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Members of this Court are not public health experts, and we should respect the judgment of those with special expertise and responsibility in this area,” the majority opinion said.
“But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten. The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty.”
In a 5-4 decision, the nation’s highest court said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and other officials cannot enforce occupancy limits set in a previous executive order.
Cuomo had mandated that attendance at religious services remain at 10 people or under in so-called red zones and at 25 or under in orange zones.
New York officials have created a color-coding system to mark what levels they believe the pandemic has affected certain areas.
Lawsuits brought by he Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America triggered the ruling.
“Stemming the spread of COVID-19 is unquestionably a compelling interest, but it is hard to see how the challenged regulations can be regarded as ‘narrowly tailored,’” the Supreme Court said in the unsigned majority opinion.
“They are far more restrictive than any COVID-related regulations that have previously come before the Court, much tighter than those adopted by many other jurisdictions hard-hit by the pandemic, and far more severe than has been shown to be required to prevent the spread of the virus at the applicants’ services.”
The Supreme Court in Washington on Sept. 21, 2020. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)
COVID-19 is the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Most patients recover, but a small percentage die.
The plaintiffs were likely to prevail on First Amendment ground, the court ruled.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, a Donald Trump appointee, wrote a separate opinion siding with the conservative majority, saying churches and synagogues were treated differently than commercial institutions by the state.
“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques,” Gorsuch argued.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Trump appointee, also concurred, noting that temporary injunctions were warranted but that the Nov. 25 decisions were not final.
Trump appointee Amy Coney Barrett and George W. Bush appointees Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito also voted to block the restrictions from being enforced.
Continue reading: SCOTUS Strikes Down Cuomo’s Draconian Restrictions On Religious Services In New York
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