SACRAMENTO, CA- Let’s call it another one for
the good guys and one for freedom and liberty. The United States
Supreme Court struck down overmatched California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s ban on indoor worship services, following a similar
decision last week where New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo also got
smacked down and had a similar ban on religious services struck
down,
according to LifeNews.com.
The decision, which was unsigned by the justices with no
dissents took the side of a California church which challenged
Newsom’s order. The high court threw out an order from the
federal district judge for the Central District of California,
which had upheld Newsom’s power trip.
The decision vacated the ruling and remanded the case back down
to the lower court for further consideration. This case follows the
ruling last week in its ruling in Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn
which eviscerated Cuomo’s mandate.
In the California case, the Supreme Court granted certiorari and
vacated the lower court orders involving the emergency petition of
Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry. In the
order, the Court stated:
“The application for injunctive relief, presented to Justice
Kagan and by her referred to the Court, is treated as a petition
for a writ of certiorari before judgment, and the petition is
granted. The September 2 order of the United States District Court
for the Central District of California is vacated, and the case is
remanded to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth
Circuit with instructions to remand to the District Court for
further consideration in light of Roman Catholic Diocese of
Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. ____ (2020).”
The Federalist Papers, citing a Newsmax report
said:
“The justices, with no noted dissents, set aside a
lower court ruling that rejected a challenge to Newsom’s policy
by Harvest Rock Church Inc., which has several campuses in the
state, and Harvest International Ministries Inc., an association of
churches. Both are based in Pasadena, a city in Los Angeles
County.”
Harvest Rock Church argued that Newsom’s limits on how many
people are permitted to gather for indoor church services violated
the basic, guaranteed rights set forth in the First Amendment,
which guarantee the right to exercise religion as seen fit. Harvest
Rock Church has multiple campuses throughout the state of
California.
According to a
SCOTUS Blog report:
“The church argues that it is treated less favorably than
businesses like grocery stores, malls, swap meets and card rooms,
which can remain open with less stringent attendance limits—or,
in the case of essential retail in the state’s least restrictive
zones, with no attendance limits at all.”
It is anticipated that a growing number of churches in other
states are considering taking similar action against governors in
their states.
The restrictions Newsom imposed in California are more severe
than those in any other state, including New York. Newsom’s order
bans ALL in-person worship for over 99% of California
residents.
For example, in Pasadena, the Code Enforcement Division of that
city, along with the Criminal Prosecutor have threatened to levy
criminal charges, fines, and closure for being open for worship
against the governor’s orders and local health orders. The
letters threaten up to one year in prison, daily criminal charges
and $1,000 fines against the pastors, staff and parishioners.
On August 28, 2020, Newsom issued a new “Blueprint” which
basically established four different tiers. In every tier, the
“Blueprint” discriminates against religious meetings in
churches and houses of worship.
This chart shows clearly the discrimination against churches and
houses of worship. For example, in the so-called “color-coded
executive edict,†in the “purple†area, worship services
would be prohibited for 99.1 percent of California residents, which
would include most of Harvest Rock and HIM churches.
Conversely, warehouses, big box stores, shopping malls, liquor
stores, family entertainment centers, and a number of other
businesses receive preferential treatment with either no capacity
limitations or numerical limits.
In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Liberty Counsel
Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said:
“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Court provides great
relief for churches and places of worship. The handwriting is now
on the wall. The final days of Governor Gavin Newsom’s
‘color-coded executive edicts’ banning worship are numbered and
coming to an end. It is past time to end these unconstitutional
restrictions on places of worship.â€
Adding to the maddening restrictions placed on churches, along
with some businesses is the fact that the dictatorial “leadersâ€
who are implementing the restrictions appear to believe that they
don’t apply to them.
Several high-profile politicians have been caught ever since the
beginning of the pandemic busting either their own restrictions or
other government official’s restrictions.
For example, as Newsom announced harsh restrictions in numerous
areas, he was at the French Laundry in Napa for a $350 a plate
birthday dinner. Fortunately, he was spotted there and the photo of
him went viral.
The very next night, San Francisco Mayor London Breed ate at the
very same restaurant, also for a birthday celebration. Other
politicians including the mayors of Denver and Austin, Texas were
caught traveling out of state after demanding residents of their
respective cities stay home.
In the case of Austin Mayor Steve Adler, he admonished residents
not to travel in a video which he recorded from his timeshare in
Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where he traveled to on a private jet.
We previously reported on Multnomah County, Oregon officials
traveling out of state to Hawaii and Mexico after that state’s
governor, Kate Brown, had issued a “freeze†travel
advisory.
How do these political hacks expect the American people to take
their gloom and doom scenarios about the coronavirus seriously when
they don’t? And when they are snagged, it is always an excuse, or
they give some half-assed mea culpa.
The act is getting old. It is gratifying to see the Supreme
Court finally growing a set and putting these tyrants in their
place. Hopefully this is only the beginning and we can return to
just a little bit of normalcy. Time will tell.
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The post
Supreme smackdown: Supreme Court strikes down California Gov. Gavin
Newsom’s ban on indoor worship services appeared first on
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