Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Wednesday said that the Supreme Court’s decision in a New York case prompted him to drop coronavirus restrictions on houses of worship.
In a brief filed to the court, attorneys for Polis responded to a suit raised by High Plains Harvest Church, which was seeking injunctive relief from his 50% capacity limit on churches. Polis urged the court to dismiss the case, pointing to the fact that his administration removed all limitations on the church this week.
“After careful consideration and consultation with counsel, Colorado amended its public health order to ensure that it complied with the Court’s free exercise framework by removing all numerical capacity restrictions from houses of worship, no matter which level of the public health order dial applies in a particular county,” attorneys wrote. “Houses of worship remain categorized as critical businesses in Colorado — but now with no more, or different, restrictions than any other critical business.”
Colorado’s reversal comes shortly after the court signaled a major change in its attitude toward houses of worship seeking relief from state and local restrictions. The Supreme Court shortly before Thanksgiving decided in favor of Catholic churches and Jewish synagogues accusing New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of violating the First Amendment by implementing heavier restrictions on churches and synagogues than he did on businesses.
That decision, in which Justice Amy Coney Barrett was the decisive vote, paved the way for a similar decision favoring California churches and opened the door for appeals from churches in New Jersey and Nevada. Barrett’s vote changed the consensus reached this summer in rulings against two churches in California and Nevada seeking injunctions against gathering restrictions. In both cases, Chief Justice John Roberts cast a swing vote against the churches.
At the time, Roberts emphasized that his refusal to grant injunctions did not reflect his views on the merits of the cases but rather on his belief that the changing terms of pandemic restrictions made it unwise to issue injunctions in any cases.
