Name: Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Challenge to Covid-19 Rules
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Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Challenge to Covid-19 Rules

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Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-rejects-nevada-churchs-challenge-to-covid-19-shutdown-rules-11595645996ByWASHINGTON—The Supreme Court voted 5-4 Friday to reject a Nevada church’s plea to suspend state public-health orders limiting attendance at services, marking the second time Chief Justice John Roberts has joined liberal justices to contain the coronavirus pandemic.Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, located east of Reno in Lyon County, Nev., argued that public-health orders issued by Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed casinos and other secular businesses greater leeway than houses of worship, which were capped at 50 people for indoor services. Calvary Chapel sought to conduct services for up to 90 congregants, but pledged to implement various social-distancing rules and other measures to contain Covid-19’s spread.Gov. Sisolak, a Democrat, said his order treated churches less restrictive than movie theaters, museums and zoos. While casinos could admit up to 50% of their capacity, the governor argued that pervasive state regulation of the gambling industry, including on-premises enforcement officers, made them inapt for comparison to unregulated churches.Lower courts declined to suspend the public-health orders during the church’s lawsuit, prompting the high court appeal.The Supreme Court denied the appeal without comment. Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan comprised the majority.Four of the more conservative justices dissented, as they did in May when the same majority declined to block similar California orders capping attendance at religious services.“The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about the freedom to play craps or black-jack, to feed tokens into a slot machine, or to engage in any other game of chance,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the principal dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh.Justice Alito said that at the outbreak of the pandemic, officials should have broad discretion over emergency measures, adding that several months into the health crisis, greater court oversight was called for.He said it was “hard to swallow” the state’s claim that casino regulators would keep a firm grip on contagion within well-attended gambling palaces while public health required holding the church to a lower limit.Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a separate one-page dissent. “In Nevada, it seems, it is better to be in entertainment than religion. Maybe that is nothing new,” he wrote. “But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.”Justice Kavanaugh filed a separate opinion laying out his own views of the case.Although the majority didn’t elaborate on Friday’s order, in May Chief Justice Roberts filed an opinion explaining why he voted to uphold Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order .“The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted during the pandemic is a dynamic and fact-intensive matter subject to reasonable disagreement,” he wrote then, adding that the Constitution principally assigns such judgments “to the politically accountable officials of the States.”Faced with lethal pandemic that by then had taken more than 100,000 lives nationwide, the chief justice said that with rare exception state officials “should not be subject to second-guessing by an ‘unelected federal judiciary,’ which lacks the background, competence, and expertise to assess public health and is not accountable to the people.”Write to Jess Bravin atCopyright ©2020 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8WSJ opens select articles to reader conversation to promote thoughtful dialogue. See the 'Join the Conversation' area for stories open to conversation. For more information, please reference our . Email feedback and questions to .Sponsored OffersCopyright © 2020 Dow Jones &amp; Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-rejects-nevada-churchs-challenge-to-covid-19-shutdown-rules-11595645996ByWASHINGTON—The Supreme Court voted 5-4 Friday to reject a Nevada church’s plea to suspend state public-health orders limiting attendance at services, marking the second time Chief Justice John Roberts has joined liberal justices to contain the coronavirus pandemic.Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley, located east of Reno in Lyon County, Nev., argued that public-health orders issued by Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed casinos and other secular businesses...

Supreme Court Rejects Nevada Church’s Challenge to Covid-19 Rules

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