Challenge to limits on church services rejected
By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided Supreme Court last Friday rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court’s four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area.
The church argued that limits on how many people can attend their services violate constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and had been seeking an order in time for services on Sunday. The church said it has crowds of 200 to 300 people for its services.
Roberts wrote in brief opinion that the restriction allowing churches to reopen at 25% of their capacity, with no more than 100 worshipers at a time, “appear consistent” with the First Amendment. Roberts said similar or more severe limits apply to concerts, movies and sporting events “where large groups of people gather in close proximity for extended periods of time.”
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in dissent that the restriction “discriminates against places of worship and in favor of comparable secular businesses. Such discrimination violates the First Amendment.” Kavanaugh pointed to supermarkets, restaurants, hair salons, cannabis dispensaries and other businesses that are not subject to the same restrictions.
Lower courts in California had previously turned down the churches’ requests.
The court also rejected an appeal from two churches in the Chicago area that objected to Gov. Jay Pritzker’s limit of 10 worshipers at religious services. Before the court acted, Pritzker modified the restrictions to allow for up to 100 people at a time. There were no recorded dissents.
Chief justice says pandemic teaches humility, compassion
By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts told graduating seniors at his son’s high school that the coronavirus has “pierced our illusion of certainty and control” and he counseled the students to make their way with humility, compassion, and courage in a world turned upside down.
“Humility. The pandemic should teach us at least that,” Roberts said in a seven-minute video message posted last week on the website of the Westminster School in Simsbury, Connecticut, where his son, Jack, is a senior.
Roberts didn’t talk at all about the Supreme Court’s hefty load of high-profile cases that include disputes over President Donald Trump’s taxes, abortion, LGBT rights, and protections for young immigrants.
Instead, the 65-year-old Roberts said students should show compassion, and not just for those who were sickened by or died of the virus.
“Others are suffering, too, and many will be for a long time. Those who have lost jobs or small businesses or whose hopes and dreams may be slowly drifting out of reach,” he said. Roberts said people they encounter even years from now “may bear scars you cannot see.”
He also told members of the Class of 2020 that they will need courage in this uncertain time. “This is your moment, your time to begin leaving your mark on the world,” he said.
The virus outbreak forced big changes at the Supreme Court, where the justices heard arguments by telephone earlier in May and made live audio available, both for the first time.
Some justices participated from home, Roberts said, and he said someone asked him if his colleagues wore their robes. Roberts said he was left to wonder, “judicial or bath?”
