Freedom to kill

The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily barred New York from enforcing strict attendance limits on places of worship in areas designated coronavirus hot spots, in a decision released late Wednesday.

The court ruled that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's executive order violated the First Amendment's "free exercise" clause, and actively discriminated against religious institutions.

  NPR

FFS.

"The restrictions at issue here, by effectively barring many from attending religious services, strike at the very heart of the First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty," the unsigned majority decision read.

It certainly does not do anything of the kind. No one is being barred from practicing their religion any more than anyone is being barred from eating. It's a matter of saving lives that they do it in small numbers. FFS.

The 5-4 decision, with Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan dissenting, comes as confirmed cases of coronavirus surge around the country.

It's good to see at least that Roberts hasn't totally lost his mind.

Notably, the court's ruling is in contrast to two decisions it issued in May and June concerning churches in California and Nevada, which allowed state officials to restrict attendance at religious services. Those decisions came before Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the bench, giving the Supreme Court a conservative majority.

Christ.

However, California and Nevada had far less severe restrictions compared to New York, the justices explained in Wednesday's order. The California church limited attendance to 100 people. In buildings with a capacity of 400 or fewer people, capacity was limited to 25%. In Nevada, churches were limited to 50.

A clear admission that the issue is a matter of numbers.

The court is granting the temporary injunctive relief until the Court of Appeals in December, and then the Supreme Court as appropriate, can more fully consider the merits of the case.

And if they don't get their asses out of their heads then, those 5 justices should be impeached for either partisanship or ignorance.  In the meantime, the blood of anyone who dies from contracting Covid in a mass religious gathering (or spreading it from there to someone who dies) in New York is on their hands.  Not that they'd care, apparently.

And to the religious zealots who filed the suit to be able to gather in masses: there's a bench in Hell with your names on it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

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