A California church that lost a Supreme Court challenge in May to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s restrictions on in-person attendance is trying again — this time, before a newly composed court that seems more likely to go along.
When South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista (San Diego County) first argued that Newsom’s orders violated freedom of religion, the court refused to intervene in a 5-4 decision. Chief Justice John Roberts, who cast the deciding vote, said the governor was imposing similar restrictions on comparable secular facilities, like movie theaters and sporting events, and should be allowed to take reasonable steps to protect public health.
But the majority vote included Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18 and was speedily replaced by President Trump’s appointee, Amy Coney Barrett, a religious conservative. With the California case now pending before a federal appeals court, the church again asked the Supreme Court to step in on Tuesday — a day before the high court, with Barrett casting the deciding vote, barred New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from enforcing comparable limits on in-person worship services.
“Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten,” the five-justice majority said in an opinion that largely rejected the court’s earlier conclusions. “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.”
In Tuesday’s court filing, lawyers for the South Bay church similarly argued that “the pandemic ‘emergency’ has been used to justify the broad overreach of the police power of the state with regard to religious expression, effectively transforming our cherished freedom of worship from a ‘first class right’ into a ‘second class right.’”
“We cannot afford to let tyranny against religion rise in the guise of well-meaning governmental ‘protections,’” said attorney Charles LiMandri of the Thomas More Society, representing the church.
Separately, the Harvest Rock Church of Pasadena and Harvest International Ministry, which is affiliated with 162 California churches, have asked the Supreme Court to block Newsom’s orders.
The court’s May 29 decision allowed California to limit in-person attendance at religious services to 25% of the building’s capacity, with a maximum attendance of 100. With the recent coronavirus surge, Newsom has banned indoor worship services in counties in the state’s high-risk purple tier and allowed only outdoor gatherings. For counties in the red tier, including San Francisco, up to 100 people are still allowed in indoor services, but singing and chanting, which pose a risk of spreading the virus, are barred.
“Singing is at the very heart of Pentecostal worship services,” lawyers for the South Bay church told the court. While the state, in its court filings, cited an expert opinion on the dangers of airborne infection through singing and chanting, the church said its own expert concluded singing could be done safely with adequate social distancing.
“There is no evidence that attending a worship service at South Bay or any other place of worship is riskier than shopping at Costco, eating at a restaurant, working in a factory or filming a television show,” which all have lesser restrictions under Newsom’s orders, the lawyers told the court.
Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
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November 28, 2020 at 02:52AM
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Another try for California church that lost Supreme Court decision on indoor services - San Francisco Chronicle
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