Justice Neil Gorsuch declined to grant emergency relief to a pair of Colorado churches. (Art Lien) In the latest battle over restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Justice Neil Gorsuch rejected a request from two Denver-area churches to block the enforcement of Colorado’s disaster law. Denver Bible Church and Community Baptist Church had sought broad relief, asking the court not only to halt any COVID-19 restrictions based on the law that would interfere with the churches’ ability to exercise their religion but also urging the justices to overrule a century-old decision upholding compulsory vaccination laws. Gorsuch, who fields emergency requests from Colorado and neighboring states, denied the churches’ request on Tuesday without referring it to the full court and without any explanation. The denial follows a series of other recent rulings on the court’s shadow docket in which the court has granted emergency relief to religious groups seeking exemptions from state limits on in-person gatherings. Among those rulings was an April decision in Tandon v. Newsom , in which the court ruled 5-4that group prayer meetings were entitled to an exemption from California’s policy limiting gatherings in homes during the pandemic. In the Colorado case, Denver Bible Church v. […]
