Justices halt Calif. rule limiting home worship
High court increasingly rejecting virus curbs
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has shot down a California regulation limiting religious worship at home, the latest in a series of rulings in which the justices have found that coronavirus pandemic regulations violate the First Amendment’s protections of religion.
The 5-4 unsigned opinion, published just before midnight on Friday, highlighted the deep divisions over the issue, with Chief Justice John Roberts siding with three liberals who dissented. The court noted that it had overturned the California-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in similar cases four previous times.
California had announced significant changes loosening restrictions on gatherings that go into effect Thursday. The changes came after infection rates have gone down in the state. But the court stressed in its opinion that such changes while a dispute is on appeal do not necessarily make the case moot.
In an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19, California prohibited at-home gatherings in counties hit hard by the pandemic and limited those gatherings elsewhere to no more than three households. The restrictions were challenged by two Christian pastors who wanted to hold Bible studies, prayer meetings and other services in their home.
The court said California allows people from more than three households to gather in hair salons, retail stores, movie theaters and restaurants. Given that, the justices said, the state would need to show that it is more dangerous for people to gather in homes for religious services than in those other places.
“Where the government permits other activities to proceed with precautions, it must show that the religious exercise at issue is more dangerous than those activities even when the same precautions are applied,” the court wrote. “Otherwise, precautions that suffice for other activities suffice for religious exercise too.”
In a dissent, Justice Elena Kagan asserted that the majority was hurting state officials’ ability to address a public health emergency. Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor joined in her dissent.
“California limits religious gatherings in homes to three households. If the state also limits all secular gatherings in homes to three households, it has complied with the First Amendment,” she wrote.
The court has dealt with a string of cases in which religious groups have challenged coronavirus restrictions affecting worship services. Early in the pandemic, the court sided with state officials over the objection of religious groups, but that changed following the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September and her replacement by conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
The court, where conservatives now have a 6-3 majority, began finding for churches and other religious entities in the cases after initially siding with states. In this case, the majority was composed of Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Barrett.
Roberts would have denied the pastors’ appeals, but he did not explain his reasoning and did not join Kagan’s dissent.
Contributing: Associated Press