Looks like the Supreme Court shot down Cuomo's exec order as unconstitutional.. targeting religious services.. A win for the constitution and religious freedom..
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily barred New York from enforcing strict attendance limits on places of worship in areas designated coronavirus hot spots, in a decision released late Wednesday.
The court ruled that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order violated the First Amendment's "free exercise" clause,and actively discriminated against religious institutions.
"The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty," the unsigned majority decision read.
The 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissenting, comes as confirmed cases of coronavirus surge around the country.
Notably, the court's ruling is in contrast to two decisions it issued in May and June concerning churches in California and Nevada, which allowed state officials to restrict attendance at religious services. Those decisions came before Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the bench, giving the Supreme Court a conservative majority.
However, California and Nevada had far less severe restrictions compared to New York, the justices explained in Wednesday's order. The California church limited attendance to 100 people. In buildings with a capacity of 400 or fewer people, capacity was limited to 25%. In Nevada, churches were limited to 50.
