Thread by @LukeWGoodrich

#BREAKING: Huge religious freedom victory tonight at the Supreme Court--stopping NY Gov Cuomo’s discriminatory #COVID19 worship restrictions against @BECKETlaw’s Orthodox Jewish clients. Here’s a thread with key excerpts from the Court’s opinions. s3.amazonaws.com/becketnewsite/… 1/

Biggest takeaway: The Court resoundingly rejects blind deference to COVID-related restrictions on worship. Instead, all governments must recognize the Constitution still controls during a pandemic: 2/

The core holding of the majority is that our Orthodox Jewish clients “clearly established their entitlement to relief” by showing they are “likely to prevail” under the First Amendment: 3/

First, the Court ruled that NY’s restrictions are NOT neutral toward religion. And it wasn’t just Cuomo’s hostile comments toward Orthodox Jews. It was that many kinds of businesses were treated as “essential,” but worship was not: 4/

Next, the Court said NY’s law was needlessly harsh--there was “no evidence” that the synagogues had contributed to COVID spread, and NY could have tied attendance to the size of the building rather than imposing a hard cap: 5/

The Court also emphasized that even temporary restrictions on religious worship are an “irreparable harm,” and watching services online is not a substitute: 6/

New York had tried to escape the Court’s review by relaxing its restrictions at the last minute. But the Court said that changed nothing, because NY could reimpose the restrictions any time: 7/

Justice Gorsuch concurred, emphasizing the importance of the First Amendment in a time of crisis. Here is his closing line: 8/

Justice Kavanaugh also concurred, emphasizing that New York failed to justify its policy of treating houses of worship worse than secular businesses: 9/

Chief Justice Roberts dissented, but on very narrow, procedural grounds. In fact, he AGREED that NY’s regulations “may well...violate the Free Exercise Clause,” suggesting there are at least six votes (maybe more) to strike down such restrictions: 10/

However, the Chief said that because NY had backed down at the last minute, he saw no need to issue an injunction. If NY reinstated its restrictions, the synagogues “can return to this Court”: 11/

Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor also dissented. But they didn’t reject the synagogue’s claims on the merits. They agreed NY’s restrictions were “severe,” and the merits were “far from clear”; instead, they focused on NY’s last-minute retreat: 12/

Bottom line: This is a HUGE win for religious freedom. All governments are now on notice that they won’t get a free pass when they treat worship worse than secular businesses. Neither the Constitution nor the Supreme Court will sleep through the pandemic. /fin