Judge OKS religious gatherings

The state cannot limit outdoor religious gatherings due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal judge ruled Friday in Albany.

Senior U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe ruled in favor of two upstate Catholic priests and three orthodox Jewish congregants in Brooklyn who asked the judge for an injunction June 10 to keep the state and city of New York from enforcing restrictions on their religious gatherings. The suit was filed against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

On June 15, Cuomo modified an executive order to allow nonessential gatherings of up to 25 people. Two days later, de Blasio authorized city agencies to enforce the governor’s order.

In his ruling, the judge said Cuomo and de Blasio could just as easily have discouraged the large public protests that took place following the killing in Minneapolis of George Floyd. That could have been done, Sharpe wrote, not to condemn the protesters’ message but in the name of public health.

Sharpe stated, “But by acting as they did, Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio sent a clear message that mass protests are deserving of preferential treatment.”

Sharpe said Rev. Steven Soos and ev. Nicholas Stamos, who celebrate Mass in Glens Falls, Massena and Nicholville, have had to turn away parishioners or hold more Masses per day than are possible. Drive-in Masses have not helped, the judge said.

Sharpe said the executive order has been a burden to the friends and families of people getting married or laid to rest. And citing the objections of Orthodox Jewish congregants

Daniel Schonbrun, Elchanan Perr and Mayer Mayerfeld, the judge said synagogue prayers require a minimum of 10 males 13 or older, which prevents females and younger males from attending events.

The judge said allowing outdoor graduations of up to 150 people was another exception that was not allowed for religious groups.

“Having carefully reviewed the relevant issues, and with a firm understanding that the executive branch response to the pandemic has presented issues with a degree of complexity that is unrivaled in recent history, it is plain to this court that the broad limits of that executive latitude have been exceeded,” Sharpe stated.the federal Department of Justice’s Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division, said, “Today’s federal court decision is a win for religious freedom and the civil liberties of New Yorkers.”