(Image via Getty) “Assuming all of the same precautions are taken, why can someone safely walk down a grocery store aisle but not a pew? And why can someone safely interact with a brave deliverywoman but not with a stoic minister?” asks the 6th Circuit in an opinion quoted by Justice Kavanaugh in his dissent from the majority’s refusal to enjoin restrictions on churches in California. According to Justices Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch, church attendance involves quickly walking through the pew before dropping a couple of bills on the collection plate en route to the golf course. Similarly, the arrival of the Amazon delivery truck prompts an immediate congregation of neighbors to assemble in close proximity for an hour or two huddled in someone’s rumpus room, raptly absorbing her brave counsel and singing hymns of praise. It’s quite an assumption , and one that Justice Roberts was unwilling to go along with, siding with the four liberal Justices late Friday night to uphold California’s emergency coronavirus restrictions capping church attendance at 25 percent of maximum occupancy or 100 people. Late Friday night, the Supreme Court released a 5-4 decision in South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Gavin Newsom […]
