[Carry_Okie]

The O-bot is dead wrong on the Constitution. The First Amendment restrains only Congress. Hence, FedGov has no standing in the case and New York can do whatever the hell it wants, from instituting Islam statewide to banning it outright.

That is, if anybody cared what the Constitution actually says.

[Labyrinthos]

The O-bot is dead wrong on the Constitution. The First Amendment restrains only Congress. Hence, FedGov has no standing in the case and New York can do whatever the hell it wants, from instituting Islam statewide to banning it outright.

The SCOTUS has held, for at least the last fifty years, that the First Amendment applies to state and local government through the 14th Amendment. Even Justice Thomas has accepted that view.

[Pearls Before Swine]

The First Amendment restrains only Congress. Hence, FedGov has no standing in the case and New York can do whatever the hell it wants..

That gets us into the issue of "incorporation" of the Bill of Rights. Many of us didn't like it when it was argued that the Second Amendment only applied to the Federal Government and that the states could do whatever they wanted to limit or ban guns. It seems like a similar argument.