The Supreme Court in a split decision Friday rejected a Nevada church’s request that it block the state government from enforcing a cap on attendance at religious services.
The decision was a 5-4 ruling, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the liberal wing.
The court’s order was unsigned and did not provide any reasoning, common practice when the high court acts on emergency applications.
The court’s conservative justices filed three dissents.
So Roberts isn't a "conservative justice", Tal Axelrod?
The decision comes in response to a suit from Calvary chapel Dayton Valley arguing that it was being treated unfairly compared to casinos, restaurants and amusement parks.
Churches in the state have a firm 50-person limit, while other businesses have been told to cut their availability to half of their fire-code capacities.
Alito:
“The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in dissent.
“It says nothing about the freedom to play craps or blackjack, to feed tokens into a slot machine, or to engage in any other game of chance. But the Governor of Nevada apparently has different priorities."
Phooey.
Only Thomas even pretends to take the actual, absolutist and ludicrous language of the First Amendment seriously.
Everybody drills holes in it, allowing regulation and weighing of competing considerations and exceptions.
And Roberts merely insisted that the facts just didn't bear out the claims of discrimination against religion, refusing Alito's invitation to compare apples and oranges (churches and casinos), instead comparing apples and apples (churches and theaters).
Roberts:
The Friday ruling marks the second time the high court has blocked an effort from a church to invalidate state restrictions on attendance.
The court ruled 5-4 in a similar case in May to reject a challenge from a California church.
“Although California’s guidelines place restrictions on places of worship, those restrictions appear consistent with the free exercise clause of the First Amendment,” Roberts wrote in May.
“Similar or more severe restrictions apply to comparable secular gatherings, including lectures, concerns, movie showings, spectator sports and theatrical performances, where large groups of people gather in close proximity for extended periods of time.”
Conservatives blast Supreme Court ruling: Roberts has 'abandoned his oath'
Conservatives blast Supreme Court ruling: Roberts has 'abandoned his oath'
Conservative lawmakers blasted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts after he sided with the court's liberal justices in a 5-4 decision Friday that rejected a Nevada church’s request to block the state government from enforcing a cap on attendance at religious services.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted early Saturday morning that Roberts had "abandoned his oath."
"What happened to that judge?" tweeted Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
"Freedom of religion is our first freedom. Yet SCOTUS has ruled that casinos can host hundreds of gamblers, while churches cannot welcome their full congregations. Justice Roberts once again got it wrong, shamefully closing church doors to their flocks," Cotton added in a statement.
Defending its imposed restrictions, Nevada stated that its regulations didn't target places of worship unfairly, saying that other large gatherings — like concerts and movie theaters — were treated “the same as or worse than houses of worship.”
The complaint made its way to the highest court in the land after being rejected by a district court and a circuit court.
Three of the conservative justices wrote dissenting opinions on the emergency order.
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