SUPREME COURT NIXES CALIFORNIA CHURCH’S CASE VS ATTENDANCE LIMITS

The US Supreme Court on Friday turned away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California to block enforcement of state restrictions on attendance at religious services, The New York Times reported on Sunday, May 31, 2020.

The vote was 5 to 4, with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the court’s four-member liberal wing to form a majority. It was the court’s first attempt to balance the public health crisis against the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom. It also expanded the court’s engagement with the consequences of the pandemic, after rulings on voting in Wisconsin and prisons in Texas and Ohio.

“Although California’s guidelines place restrictions on places of worship, those restrictions appear consistent with the free exercise clause of the First Amendment,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote in an opinion concurring in the unsigned ruling.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr., Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh dissented.