The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Friday to intervene in the legal battle over state restrictions of churches during the pandemic, disappointing religious leaders and activists who believed the body’s conservative bloc might side with houses of worship.
The justices, in a 5-4 ruling, turned down a request by a California congregation to issue an injunction against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order limiting houses of worship to 25 percent capacity or 100 individuals, whichever is lower.
The congregation, South Bay Pentecostal Church, a Chula Vista, Calif., asserted it could meet safely while practicing social distancing and following health guidelines – just as stores and businesses are permitted by the state to do. Thomas More Society represented the congregation.
Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the court’s liberal bloc in denying the injunction request, rejected the comparison between churches and businesses. California’s restrictions, he wrote in his own concurring opinion, “appear consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”
“Similar or more severe restrictions apply to comparable secular gatherings, including lectures, concerts, movie showings, spectator sports, and theatrical performances, where large groups of people gather in close proximity for extended periods of time,” Roberts wrote. “And the Order exempts or treats more leniently…
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