U.S. Supreme Court overturns California’s restrictions on in-home religious activities


supreme court worthy christian news

By Dan McCaleb | The Center Square

(Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled late Friday that California’s COVID-19 restrictions on in-home religious gatherings, limiting worship to families from a maximum of three households, could not continue.

In the 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court reversed a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s limits on people exercising their First Amendment rights to freely practice religion at home.

In its written order, the court noted that it was the fifth time it has “rejected the Ninth Circuit’s analysis of California’s COVID restrictions on religious exercise.”

“California treats some comparable secular activities more favorably than at-home religious exercise, permitting hair salons, retail stores, personal care services, movie theaters, private suites at sporting events and concerts, and indoor restaurants to bring together more than three households at a time,” the court said.

Before the state of California can limit religious gatherings more strictly than other secular activities, it must prove they are a greater risk, the court said.

“Otherwise, precautions that suffice for other activities suffice for religious exercise too,” majority justices wrote.

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s three liberal members in dissenting, but he did not sign an opposing opinion submitted by Associate Justices Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor.

In the dissenting opinion, Kagan noted that the state also restricts secular at-home gatherings to three households.

“California limits religious gatherings in homes to three households,” Kagan wrote. “If the state also limits all secular gatherings in homes to three households, it has complied with the First Amendment. And the state does exactly that.”

Reprinted with permission from The Center Square.
We're being CENSORED ... HELP get the WORD OUT! SHARE!!!
Fair Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Worthy Christian News