The US Supreme Court granted a victory to California churches on Friday, granting a precautionary measure to a group it had sued over coronavirus blocking rules that banned internal worship.
Churches will be allowed to hold internal services while they await a decision on their appeal at the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is hearing the case, but denied a motion to lift the ban during it.
The 6-3 decision came with the Court’s liberal judges in dissent.
NINTH CALIFORNIA LIBERAL CIRCUIT TO FACE ARMS RIGHTS, MULL REINSTALLING HIGH CAPACITY MAGAZINE PROHIBITION
“The Ninth Circuit’s failure to grant relief was erroneous,” says the Supreme Court order. “This result is clearly dictated by the decision of this Court at South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom.”
ARCHIVE – On this November 5, 2020, an archival photo of the Supreme Court is seen in Washington. (AP Photo / J. Scott Applewhite, Archives)
Churches sued Santa Clara County earlier this month after the county continued to ban closed services, despite a previous Supreme Court decision that Governor Gavin Newsom’s total ban violated the First Amendment, according to Mercury Bay Area News.
The county argued that its ban was permitted because it did not highlight religious meetings.
But the Supreme Court order will prevent the county from enforcing the ban until the 9th Circuit case is closed.
The court’s brief statement said that dissenting liberal judges disagreed with the majority for the same reasons they set out in the Unified Pentecostal case.
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“The judges in this court are not scientists,” Kagan wrote in dissent earlier this month. “We don’t know much about public health policies either. However, today the court replaces expert judgments on how to respond to a violent pandemic. The court orders California to weaken its restrictions on public meetings by making a special exception for worship services. . “
Fox News’s Shannon Bream and Bill Mears contributed to this report.