ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom®  – News and Updates on Religious Liberty and Freedom
Menu
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Church and State
  • In the News
  • In the News
  • Supreme Court
  • Free Speech
  • Legislation
Menu

Court blocks New York Governor’s COVID Restrictions on Religious Congregations

Posted on November 26, 2020November 26, 2020 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

 

[dc]I[/dc]n a major victory for religious congregations, delivered late on Thanksgiving Eve, the United States Supreme Court blocked the state of New York from implementing gathering restrictions that the Court ruled discriminate against religious congregations.

Governor Andrew Cuomo had issued an executive order categorizing certain businesses as neutral but restricting religious service attendance in designated COVID-19 zones to no more than 10 or 25 people. Essential businesses included acupuncture facilities, campgrounds, garages, factories, and all transportation facilities. The Court noted that even businesses categorized as “non-essential” “may decide for themselves how many persons to admit.”

The restrictions specifically singled out religious congregations, so the Court applied the higher “strict scrutiny standard” which states that the restrictions must be 1) narrowly tailored and 2) demonstrate a compelling state interest.  The Court made note of the fact that large stores next door to churches could have hundreds of shoppers present while the congregations were limited to 10 to 25 people.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America filed for injunctive relief against the restrictions. Right after they filed, Governor Cuomo promptly changed the restrictions to no more than 50% of their capacity by changing their zones’ classification and asked that the Court find the issue to now be moot. The Court, however, noted that if the zones were reclassified, and it happens without notice, the congregations would need to close again.

The main holding in the 5-4 decision is unsigned, but several justices submitted separate concurrences or dissents.

The temporary injunction will be in place as the matter is heard at the Second Circuit, and will then likely go back to the Supreme Court for a trial on the merits.  The ruling is narrow in that it only addresses the orders of the Governor of New York that singled out religion, but it signals what the majority thinks of the restrictions and the decision will likely be confirmed once the full case reaches the Court soon.

 

Case:  ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK v. ANDREW M. CUOMO,
(11/25/2020) – https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/20

 

Category: Church and State, Current Events, Supreme Court
©2025 ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom® – News and Updates on Religious Liberty and Freedom
Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experience, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}