The GOOD News: Trump’s SCOTUS Appointments Will Protect Religious Liberty

The U.S. Supreme Court recently slapped down unfair restrictions on religious assembly that demonstrate President Donald Trump’s three appointments have restored equal protections for people of faith.

“It is time — past time — to make plain that, while the pandemic poses many grave challenges, there is no world in which the Constitution tolerates color-coded executive edicts that reopen liquor stores and bike shops but shutter churches, synagogues, and mosques,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a coronavirus mandate that limited the number of people who could worship in churches and synagogues far below those of secular organizations and businesses. Restaurants and fitness centers, among others, were required to lower capacity by percentages. But Gov. Cuomo targeted people of faith by ordering religious gatherings could not exceed 10 people even in large-capacity houses of worship. The Roman Catholic Church sought emergency relief and got it.

“Stemming the spread of COVID–19 is unquestionably a compelling interest, but it is hard to see how the challenged regulations can be regarded as ‘narrowly tailored.’ They are far more restrictive than any COVID–related regulations that have previously come before the Court, much tighter than those adopted by many other jurisdictions hard-hit by the pandemic, and far more severe than has been shown to be required to prevent the spread of the virus at the applicants’ services,” the U.S. Supreme Court decision sates.

A previous decision on the issue suffered a 4-4 tie, with the liberal justices supporting the attack on faith and Chief Justice John Roberts again betraying the Constitution. Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, agreed with President Trump’s first two choices — Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Newly-minted Justice Amy Coney Barrett cast the deciding vote. At 48 years old, her elevation to the high court appears to have secured religious liberty for a generation.

“In the broader context, what this signals is that we have a court that continues to be very protective of religious liberty, and also we have a court that is looking really carefully at whether government is acting in an even-handed way when it comes to how it is regulating religious exercise compared to other sorts of comparable secular conduct,” Notre Dame law school professor Stephanie Barclay said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is also manipulating pandemic executive orders to make people of faith second-class citizens. West Coast religious institutions have been hamstrung by the liberal judges in the “Nutty” Ninth Circuit, which routinely supports repugnant Democrat policies. The left repeatedly sought anti-Trump Administration decisions by judge-shopping in the Ninth Circuit and got them nearly every time. Unlike other the 5th and 6th circuits that protected religious rights, the Ninth has Gov. Newsom’s back. His so-called “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” opens manufacturing, bike shops, restaurants, and other sectors with manageable restrictions. It clamps down hard on the ability of Christians and Jews to worship even with appropriate social distancing and masks.

Fortunately, the Roman Catholic Church’s win has inspired religious leaders across the country to seek relief and the constitutional protections from the land’s highest court.