U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, U.S., November 27, 2017. | REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
After months of legal battles over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19-related restrictions, churches in California can finally restart their indoor worship services, though only at 25% capacity, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Friday night.
“We are not scientists, but neither may we abandon the field when government officials with experts in tow seek to infringe a constitutionally protected liberty,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
“Even if a full congregation singing hymns is too risky, California does not explain why even a single masked cantor cannot lead worship behind a mask and a plexiglass shield,” Gorsuch added. “Or why even a lone muezzin may not sing the call to prayer from a remote location inside a mosque as worshippers file in.”
<p><img width="350" height="219" src="/media/8727016/open hymn book 350x219.jpg" alt="hymn book, open hymnal" class="ImageFloatRight"/>The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that houses of worship in California may hold indoor services, albeit with limits – but an attorney involved in the squabble says those limits are still unconstitutional.</p>
Feb 9, 2021 catholic news service
San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone celebrates the White Mass and blessing for medical professionals outside St. Augustine Church in South San Francisco Oct. 16, 2020. (Credit: Dennis Callahan/Catholic San Francisco via CNS.)
Two California Catholic bishops applauded the Supreme Court s Feb. 5 ruling easing the state s restrictions on indoor worship put in place with the COVID-19 pandemic.
WASHINGTON, D.C. Two California Catholic bishops applauded the Supreme Court’s Feb. 5 ruling easing the state’s restrictions on indoor worship put in place with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a very significant step forward for basic rights. This decision makes clear we can now return to worshipping safely indoors without risk of harassment from government officials,” said San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone in a Feb. 6 statement.
The Center for American Liberty (@Liberty Ctr) in conjunction with the Dhillon Law Group, Inc. (@DhillonLaw), on behalf of churches in San Bernardino County and Riverside County represented in
Gish v. Newsom, the Supreme Court of The United States ruled tonight that the denial of an injunction by both the District Court and the 9th Circuit was wrong.
The Center for American Liberty filed
Gish et al. v. Newsom et al., its first lawsuit challenging California’s COVID restrictions on faith organizations in April, 2020, challenging Governor Newsom’s COVID emergency orders that defined religious institutions hosting live services as non-essential. Using a now-disfavored legal standard as its basis, a federal district court in southern California refused to enjoin the government’s sweeping clampdown on religious liberty.