The Supreme Court of Washington.
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J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press
Politicians are increasingly trying to restrict basic American freedoms and the courts are a last line of defense. The Supreme Court entered this breach again Friday in late Friday with a partial measure against California’s disparate treatment at religious meetings in the pandemic.
A divided court issued a total ban on the state of indoor worship services, while the state allows secular meetings of comparable size and density (United Bay Pentecostal Church of South Bay v. Newsom). Judges Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have gone further and banned the state’s 25% capacity restriction and a ban on singing or singing.
But Chief Justice John Roberts and Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett preferred to defer further to the state until the record of facts is clearer. The three liberal judges would have postponed state “experts”.
Judge Gorsuch dropped this argument in a statement joined by Judges Thomas and Alito. “Of course, we are not scientists, but we cannot leave the field either when government officials with research experts try to infringe on a constitutionally protected freedom,” he wrote.
“California cares that worship brings people together for too long. However, California does not limit its citizens to entering and leaving other establishments; no one is prohibited from staying in shopping malls, lounges or bus terminals, ”writes Justice. “Nor, once again, has California explained why tighter options, such as a reasonable limit on the length of domestic religious meetings, would not meet their concerns.”
Pandemic restrictions are a foretaste of the clashes that will occur as progressives in power impose their cultural values on Americans with traditional views. To accommodate William F. Buckley Jr., the High Court will have to resist an abusive government that shouts “Stop!”
Journal editorial report: Progressives want ideas to be controlled. Image: Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
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It appeared in the February 8, 2021 print edition as “.”