As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“In a judgment that spanned the ideological spectrum, the nine justices agreed Philadelphia violated the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion by refusing to contract with Catholic Social Services (CSS) for foster care services….
“Pro-life advocates gladly welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement Monday (May 17) it would rule on the constitutionality of Mississippi’s ban on abortions of unborn children whose gestational age is more than 15 weeks.” - BPNews
Related:
“One [study] found that since the George W. Bush-appointed John Roberts assumed the role of chief justice in 2005, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of religious claimants 81% of the time. This compares with a rate of about 50% for the 20th century.” - The Conversation
“Justices lift the total ban on indoor worship, though capacity limits and singing restrictions remain.” - C. Today
“The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered lower federal courts in Colorado and New Jersey to reexamine state restrictions on indoor religious services to combat the coronavirus in light of the justices’ recent ruling in favor of churches and synagogues in New York.” - BPNews
“The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a lower federal court to reexamine California restrictions on indoor religious services in areas hard hit by the coronavirus in light of the justices’ recent ruling in favor of churches and synagogues in New York.” - CLeaders
In the last article, we saw the Court determined public health considerations cannot run roughshod over religious liberty concerns. Justice Gorsuch, who seemed particularly outraged, quipped the Constitution does not take a sabbatical during a pandemic. However, Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan disagree. They wish to continue to defer to Governors and public health orders.
This past Wednesday (25 November 2020), the Supreme Court (“SCOTUS”) barred restrictions on religious services in New York that Gov. Cuomo had imposed to combat COVID-19. The vote was 5-4. If the late Justice Ginsburg were on the bench instead of Amy Barrett, it would have gone the other way.
This is not a permanent decision. Justice Kavanaugh explains:
“In a 5-4 ruling, the US Supreme Court sided with religious organizations in a dispute over Covid-19 restrictions put in place by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo limiting the number of people attending religious services.” - CNN
“[Scalia] held that the Constitution does not allow religious adherents to violate a ‘neutral law of general applicability,’ by which he meant a law that applies to everyone and does not favor or disfavor people based on their religion or lack thereof.” - The Conversation
Discussion