A group of California churches will be able to hold in-person services after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling granting the churches injunctive relief to continue holding services while their appeal is heard.
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing the group’s case but denied the churches request to suspend the ban on in-person services while the case was being decided.
The Supreme Court overruled the 9th Circuit in a 6-3 decision, granting the churches’ injunctive relief to continue holding services while the case is decided.
“The Ninth Circuit’s failure to grant relief was erroneous,” the Supreme Court’s order reads. “This outcome is clearly dictated by this Court’s decision in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom.”
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Citing the South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom decision, the churches sued Santa Clara County for continuing to ban services after the governor’s order was ruled a violation of the First Amendment by the Supreme Court.
The county, however, argued its order was different, saying it did not single out religious services specifically when it prohibited certain gathering sizes.
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The court’s three liberal justices dissented in the case, citing the same reasons they disagree with the earlier ruling against Newsom.
“Justices of this court are not scientists,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in that dissent. “Nor do we know much about public health policy. Yet today the court displaces the judgments of experts about how to respond to a raging pandemic. The court orders California to weaken its restrictions on public gatherings by making a special exception for worship services.”
