The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in divided rulings Friday night that churches in California may keep indoor services at 25 percent, which reportedly gives a partial victory to groups fighting the state’s coronavirus restrictions.
The Supreme Court issued orders late Friday in two cases in which churches sued over restrictions that had to delay the spread of the virus.
Churches are allowed to restrict singing and chanting during worship services.
Judges Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas would have lifted all restrictions on churches while the three liberal judges differed from the court.
“Even if an entire congregation singing hymns is too risky, California does not explain why even a single masked office cannot worship behind a mask and a plexiglass shield,” Gorsuch wrote according to Politico. “Or why even a lone muezzin can not sing the call to prayer from a remote place in a mosque as worshipers put it.”
Judge Elena Kagan, in a joint disagreement with Judges Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor, called the ruling ‘armchair epidemiology’.
“Under the court’s order, the state must treat worship services as secular activities that pose a much lesser danger,” she wrote. “The mandate is a challenge to our cause, exceeds our judicial role and runs the risk of exacerbating the pandemic. In the worst public health crisis in a century, this invasion of armchair epidemiology could not end well.”
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The decision follows one from last year in which the judges split 5-4 to prevent New York from imposing certain limits on the attendance of churches and synagogues. Shortly afterwards, the judges ordered a federal court to re-examine a similar lawsuit over California’s restrictions in light of the ruling.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This is an evolving story. Please come and check for updates.