Supreme Court Rules Against Cuomo [semi-satire]

In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's restrictions on church attendance in his state are an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment's "free exercise" clause. The original suit was filed by a Catholic Diocese and two Orthodox Jewish synagogues.

In the unsigned majority opinion, the court ruled that "the restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty. Even in a pandemic, the Constitution cannot be put away and forgotten."

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, saying that "the Constitution never contemplated the kind of pandemic we have seen this year. The Court should not play a deadly game in second guessing the expert judgment of state officials. Rather than hamstring them based on an out-dated document, we need to allow them maximum leeway on how to cope with modern emergencies. If, in their judgment, citizens need to be confined to their homes, their businesses shut down, their jobs eliminated, their gatherings for religious purposes banned, or their freedom of speech curtailed, the Court must not stand in their way."

In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch castigated what he termed "the brief for tyranny espoused by Justice Sotomayor. Claims of emergency have been a favorite excuse for many attacks on individual natural right to liberty by would-be dictatators. Preventing this type of self-serving rationale for ignoring this right is precisely why the Constitution was written. It is the Court's responsibility to uphold the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of the people. If the Constitution seems inadequate for today's way of life, let those claiming emergency make their case and persuade the representatives of the people to amend the Constitution in ways that might address emergencies without unduly trampling the rights of the people."

Gov. Cuomo immediately declared the Supreme Court's ruling "irrelevant" and vowed to ignore it. "The specific regulation cited in the suit is no longer in place. I have changed the color codes for the various zones of enforcement as I saw fit and will continue to govern the state as I deem best. I am not willing to let archaic principles of liberty undermine my duty to guard the health of the residents of my state." To demonstrate that he means business, Cuomo threatened to declare Staten Island—a notoriously disobedient Republican enclave a "red zone." This would "ban all gatherings of any size that I determine are for non-essential purposes."

In related news, Gov. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) vowed to veto the state legislature's attempt to revoke their declaration authorizing the Governor to rule by decree during the COVID crisis. Rep. Scott Wiggam (R), sponsor of the legislation—which passed the House by a 58-32 vote--argued that "the Governor's abuse of the emergency powers we extended to him requires that we rescind what we granted. The people's representatives need to be a part of the process going forward if we hope to retain the republican form of government guaranteed to each state by the US Constitution." DeWine pointed out that "since they don't have the two-thirds needed to overcome my veto of their bill my authority to continue to rule be decree cannot be taken away."

If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...

https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/295096-2020-11-27-semi-news-semi-satire-november-29-2020-edition.htm

... Time's editors said "we hope being nominated for 'Person of the Year' might help immunize the Governor against both this charge and the allegations that she enabled billions to be paid for fraudulent unemployment claims following her lockdown orders that drove the jobless rate up to 24% of the workforce."

Perhaps in so many words. This is "semi-ish" news, one highly suspects.

Thanks, John, for another fine translation of the week's news.

BTW, there are several most excellent screenplays contained within your columns of the past several years.

Just sayin.. .

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