SCOTUS strikes down limits on religious gatherings

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n a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court sided with religious organizations in a dispute over Covid-19 restrictions put in place by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo limiting the number of people attending religious services.

The case is the latest pitting religious groups against city and state officials seeking to stop the spread of Covid-19, and it highlights the impact of Justice Amy Coney Barrett on the court. The decision comes as coronavirus cases surge across the country.

n the late-night decision, Barrett sided with her conservative colleagues in the dispute, while Chief Justice John Roberts joined the three liberal justices in dissent.

Last spring and summer, before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court split 5-4 on similar cases out of California and Nevada, with Roberts and the liberals in the majority siding against houses of worship. Barrett was confirmed in October to take Ginsburg's seat.

The ruling, released just before midnight on Thanksgiving eve, contains several separate opinions and some unusually critical language.
In the main, unsigned opinion, the majority ruled in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America that argued that the restrictions violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment because the regulations treated the houses of worship more harshly than comparable secular facilities.

The majority said that the regulations are "far more restrictive than any Covid-related regulations that have previously come before the court, much tighter than those adopted by many other jurisdictions hard hit by the pandemic, and far more severe than has been shown to be required to prevent the spread of the virus" at the religious services in question.

"Members of this Court are not public health experts, and we should respect the judgment of those with special expertise and responsibility in this area," the court said. "But even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten."

The court said that even though Cuomo had lifted some restrictions, the houses of worship "remain under a constant threat" because the restrictions could always be reinstated.

In all, the late-night ruling consisted of six different opinions.

The Supreme Court's rejection of New York's pandemic limits on religious services exposed personal fissures among the nine justices and offered the starkest rendering yet of President Donald Trump's impact on the bench.

The dueling sides of the 5-4 cases handed down late Wednesday took issue with each other's legal rationales. But they also engaged in personal recriminations that laid bare shifting power dynamics and deep ideological differences, particularly when it comes to religion.

The three newest justices, all in the majority, played leading roles.