U.S. Supreme Court turns down church challenge to Nevada pandemic rules

Reuters ^ | July 24, 2020 | Jan Wolfe

[goodn'mad]

(Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday declined to lift a 50-person limit on religious services adopted by Nevada's Democratic governor in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices denied a request by Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley in rural Nevada for an interim order that would have allowed it to host services for about 90 congregants.

Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, voted with the court's four liberal members.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Yep. Time to defy the black robes.

[olivia3boys]

I think more churches should hold services outside these days instead of sticking with online/remote services. They could offer cooler morning or evening ones.

It’s very hard to transmit the virus outside—I read one study from China that of 7000 cases tracked, only one was traced to outdoor transmission.

My church has started holding “watch parties” in backyards where small groups watch the online service. We are in a very blue area in a blue state.

[allwrong57]

The Bush family still screwing us. Roberts is taking the place of the one the older Bush screwed us with for years. Unfortunately Robert’s not old enough to die anytime soon.

[JonPreston]

I trace our current national state of affairs to:

4 years of Bush #41
8 years of BJ Clinton
8 years of Bush #43
8 years of The Kenyan.

That's 28 continuous years of globalist governance, shared by both the Ds and Rs.

[Bob434]

[[Are the 50 person limits, arbitrary as they are, on everything statewide? If so, the church was pretty much screwed.]]

No- Casinos could operate at 50% capacity- churches can’t- this is blatant discrimination- here’s what the dissenting conservative judges and the church lawyer wrote discussing the blatant discrimination:

“The governor allows hundreds to thousands to assemble in pursuit of financial fortunes but only 50 to gather in pursuit of spiritual ones. That is unconstitutional,” the church’s lawyers wrote

-————”That Nevada would discriminate in favor of the powerful gaming industry and its employees may not come as a surprise, but this Court’s willingness to allow such discrimination is disappointing,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote.

“We have a duty to defend the Constitution, and even a public health emergency does not absolve us of that responsibility,” Alito continued. “The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about freedom to play craps or blackjack, to feed tokens into a slot machine or to engage in any other game of chance.”

-———————”The state has not explained why a 50% occupancy cap is good enough for secular businesses where people congregate in large groups or remain in close proximity for extended periods — such at restaurants, bars, casinos and gyms — but is not good enough for places of worship,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote.

“But COVID-19 is not a blank check for a state to discriminate against religious people, religious organizations and religious services,” Kavanaugh said. “Nevada is discriminating against religion.”

“But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel,”