Editorial: Of prayers and plagues: What the Supreme Court got wrong about Gov. Cuomo's COVID restrictions
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The unsigned opinion by the nation’s highest court got it wrong, insisting that restrictions placed on religious gatherings imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York’s COVID hot spots must be nullified, for they violate the First Amendment.
The dissent by the Bronx’s Sonia Sotomayor got it right. The rules, capping gatherings at 10 people or less, are actually more generous for faith-based institutions than for any other type: “New York treats houses of worship far more favorably than their secular comparators.” How on Earth can that be an offense to the guaranteed freedom to exercise religion? The majority has no answer.
Nor do they have a compelling reply to Chief Justice John Roberts’ dissent, which points out that since churches and synagogues filed their challenges to New York’s rules, the ground shifted. “None of the houses of worship identified in the applications is now subject to any fixed numerical restrictions … The Governor might reinstate the restrictions. But he also might not. And it is a significant matter to override determinations made by public health officials concerning what is necessary for public safety in the midst of a deadly pandemic.”
In other words, there was no need to tie the hands of officials who are seeking to save lives in the midst of a public health crisis.
But what’s done is done. New York is no longer allowed to count to 10 in synagogues and churches. Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas make five, and that’s enough. In these United States, there’s no higher authority on what is legal and constitutional.
Going forward, Cuomo must impose restrictions on religious services — and all others — keyed to the size of the given institution, similar to the way indoor dining is regulated. If lives are lost, chalk it up to a bad interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause.
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