Sunday, October 6

Supreme Court Rules Against California COVID-19 Restrictions on Religious Worship


The Supreme Court ruled that California cannot impose COVID restrictions – 15 to religious gatherings in homes, citing the First Amendment that upholds the right to religious freedom

Many religious services changed due to the pandemic.

Photo: Mario Tama / Getty Images

For: EFE

The United States Supreme Court determined that California cannot impose restrictions due to the emergency coronavirus health services that limit religious worship in homes , among others.

The conservative majority weighed in the decision in a vote of 5 to 4, in which the president of the Supreme Court, John G. Roberts, joined the three liberal members of the court who disagreed with the ruling issued this Friday night.

In their decision the Court said California had violated the Constitution by restricting prayer meetings in homes amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“California treats some secular activities comparable more favorably than the fiscal year religious icy in the home, ”the Court said in the decision.

The ruling reflects a change in the Supreme Court’s position on these restrictions.

Last year, before the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the highest court allowed the governors of California and Nevada to restrict attendance at religious services, with Roberts joining the liberal wing.

Following the arrival in November of Conservative Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the Court rendered its first decision against restrictions on religious services in a case against the state of New York.

This Friday’s decision responds to a lawsuit filed by The Center For American Liberty that represented two Santa Clara County residents in the area of ​​the San Francisco bay, what I gave The state-imposed rules prohibiting gatherings at home were upheld.

The conservative lawyer and director of the center, Harmeet K. Dhillon, undertook various legal battles against the state of California over churches, and small businesses affected by the closures.

Dhillon also sued the state of California on behalf of two conservative Hispanics who opposed the help that the Golden State gave to the undocumented, a battle it lost in the courts.

The ruling that lifts the restrictions on meetings comes just when California, the nation’s most populous state, is relaxing its restrictions , after seeing a reduction in the infection rate and progress in the vaccination process.

The G Governor Gavin Newsom said this week that of June, as long as the hospitalization cases and the rate of immunization against the coronavirus remain stable.