In our @Liberty_Ctr lawsuit for SoCal pastors & parishioners who want to worship with social distancing precautions during the shutdown (which will go into fall in CA?) the government defendants filed their responses to the TRO request. They're interesting & all over the place./
2/ State of California says because this is an emergency, please apply lowest rational basis test to a burden on First Amendment rights, rather than the strict scrutiny that should apply! This is unprecedented. They also argue that the Executive Order allows use of technology.../
3/ To worship, and that since a car is "technology", it's not prohibited for people to drive into a church service .... problem with that argument is that the government has assigned prayer/worship to a second class status by saying it is not "essential." Also doesn't square/
4/ With the fact that both San Bernardino & Riverside Counties said NO religious gatherings permitted, then backtracked & said they are ok, but only for Christians, only on Easter. Other faiths/days, out of luck. There are many other inconsistencies in the government briefs...
5/ Which you can read for yourself at dhillonlaw.com/gish-v-newsom/ Now we are waiting for the court to rule on the TRO, which he may do without oral argument. And we will go from there. So far though the state of California NOW seems to be saying that drive-in services are ok ...
