Santa Clara County was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court last month to permit indoor church services, according to media reports.
Gateway City Church sued Gov. Newsom challenging a regulation by Santa Clara County that establishes a 0% capacity limit on indoor worship services during the COVID-19 pandemic, alleging that it is a violation of the First Amendment under the U.S. Constitution.
“The Ninth Circuit was chastised because you had a total state total ban on worship being enjoined by the U.S. Supreme Court but then Santa Clara County had their own total ban on worship and the Ninth Circuit refused to give an injunction and the Supreme Court said that it’s frivolous not to give them the junction,” Harvest Rock Church attorney Matt Staver said.
The ban on churches was instituted to curb the spread of the coronavirus. As of March 6, California had 3,497,578 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, resulting in 53,866 deaths, according to the state's COVID dashboard.
The SCOTUS justices referenced the Feb. 5 South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom decision, which had already ordered the state to lift the ban on churches.
As previously reported in the Southern California Record, South Bay United Pentecostal Church sued Gov. Newsom in California Southern District Court, alleging that state officials had relegated California churches, pastors, and people of faith to third-class citizenship.
“South Bay United Pentecostal Church and Harvest Rock Church litigation were both decided at the same time and there are separate opinions for each one of those,” Staver said. “Those are controlling and then what it did with the Gateway litigation is just refer back to those cases because the Supreme Court had already addressed it.”
SCOTUS granted Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry’s petition for writ of certiorari in December 2020 but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the church’s challenge to a regional ban on indoor worship services in January 2021.
“We went to the Supreme Court twice on emergency injunction pending appeal and got a ruling in December and in February but, in the meantime, the case is still pending at the Ninth Circuit,” Staver said. “We should have another oral argument in the near future at the Ninth Circuit and another ruling on the injunction.”
SCOTUS set a precedent for all California churches when it overturned New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's religious restrictions on Nov. 25, issuing a temporary injunction, which prevented Gov. Cuomo from enforcing limits of 10 and 25 worshipers because five justices thought New York state’s virus risk classifications were discriminatory.