Churches in state evaluating Supreme Court ruling

Churches across the state are now evaluating the possibility of holding indoor services after a Supreme Court ruling that blocked restrictions on church meetings in New York state.

And there are churches that are defying the state’s guidelines as they are holding indoor services as a result of the Supreme Court ruling.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s order doesn’t allow churches in counties in the purple tier to hold indoor services. Churches are allowed to hold outdoor services.

And the state guidelines also restrict the number of people who can attend an indoor service based on the tier their county is in.

But on Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled in the case Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, which challenged New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s restrictions on church services. The Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote New York state couldn’t restrict attendance at church services.

So in effect the Supreme Court ruled churches in New York could hold indoor services without any restrictions on attendance. President Donald Trump’s newest appointee to the court, Amy Cony Barrett, was the swing vote in the 5-4 ruling. Chief Justice John Roberts along with the three liberal justices cast the four dissenting votes.

While the ruling was specific to New York State, churches in California are determining if they can meet — or have decided the Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for them to hold indoor services.

Law experts say the Supreme Court ruling doesn’t automatically overturn California’s guidelines when it comes to religious services, but it does make it more difficult for the state to defend its guidelines.

The ruling was somewhat of a reversal from a Supreme Court ruling in May, a 5-4 vote, that upheld at the time the state’s guidelines that limited church services to 25 percent capacity of 100 people, which was smaller.

But at that time Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who recently died, was still on the court. On Wednesday, Barrett effectively flipped that vote.

The statement that has received the most attention came from Justice Neil Gorsuch in ruling for the majority when he stated his belief there has been a different standard for churches. And Gorsuch seemed to be taking aim exactly at California’s guidelines.

“There is now world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues and mosques.”

But critics of the ruling say churches can’t be compared with public entities allowed to open, saying the potential for church services to become “super spreaders” of the COVID-19 virus is much higher and note reports of church services becoming “super spreader” events.