- Feb 5, 2002
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new missive from the Center for American Progress (CAP) raised an eyebrow this week – lamenting the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo and related Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo U.S. Supreme Court decision to issue a preliminary injunction on an executive order from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. That order limits the number of individuals who could gather in places of worship and was challenged by both the Catholic diocese and Orthodox Jewish congregation.
“Sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month to prevent the state of New York from imposing limits on the number of people attending religious gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic,” write Maggie Siddiqi and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons of CAP’s faith initiative. “We object to this reinterpretation of the First Amendment as an entitlement for our religious communities to ignore guidelines that others are morally and legally obligated to follow.”
Except that is exactly the point of the SCOTUS decision – numeric church limits by Cuomo were not applied to other gathering places of similar size.
The Supreme Court ruling identifies this problem:
“In a red zone, while a synagogue or church may not admit more than 10 persons, businesses categorized as ‘essential’ may admit as many people as they wish. And the list of ‘essential’ businesses includes things such as acupuncture facilities, camp grounds, garages, as well as many whose services are not limited to those that can be regarded as essential, such as all plants manufacturing chemicals and microelectronics and all transportation facilities.”
In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch directly calls out why:
Continued below.
Left Laments Catholic and Jewish Court Win on Church Limits - Juicy Ecumenism
“Sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month to prevent the state of New York from imposing limits on the number of people attending religious gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic,” write Maggie Siddiqi and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons of CAP’s faith initiative. “We object to this reinterpretation of the First Amendment as an entitlement for our religious communities to ignore guidelines that others are morally and legally obligated to follow.”
Except that is exactly the point of the SCOTUS decision – numeric church limits by Cuomo were not applied to other gathering places of similar size.
The Supreme Court ruling identifies this problem:
“In a red zone, while a synagogue or church may not admit more than 10 persons, businesses categorized as ‘essential’ may admit as many people as they wish. And the list of ‘essential’ businesses includes things such as acupuncture facilities, camp grounds, garages, as well as many whose services are not limited to those that can be regarded as essential, such as all plants manufacturing chemicals and microelectronics and all transportation facilities.”
In a concurring opinion, Justice Neil Gorsuch directly calls out why:
Continued below.
Left Laments Catholic and Jewish Court Win on Church Limits - Juicy Ecumenism
