Supreme Court Strikes Down Gov Gavin Newsome’s Restrictions on At-Home Bible Studies

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court granted an emergency injunction pending appeal, thus finding that California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s restrictions on home Bible study and worship violate the First Amendment.

The Court wrote: “This is the fifth time the Court has summarily rejected the Ninth Circuit’s analysis of California’s COVID restrictions on religious exercise. See Harvest Rock Church v. Newsom, 592 U. S. _ (2020); South Bay, 592 U. S. ; Gish v. Newsom, 592 U. S. (2021); Gateway City, 592 U. S. _. It is unsurprising that such litigants are entitled to relief. California’s Blueprint System contains myriad exceptions and accommodations for comparable activities, thus requiring the application of strict scrutiny. And historically, strict scrutiny requires the State to further ‘interests of the highest order’ by means ‘narrowly tailored in pursuit of those interests.’ Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U. S. 520, 546 (1993) (internal quotation marks omitted). That standard ‘is not watered down’ it ‘really means what it says.’ Ibid. (quotation altered).”

The Court also gives a summary list of everything Liberty Counsel has been arguing for the last year:

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Gov. Gavin Newsom has lost every time before the Supreme Court regarding these worship bans. You would think he would wake up by now. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been wrong every time regarding the worship restrictions. We will not rest until all these unconstitutional restrictions are struck down. It’s been more than one year since we began the fight to prove that the constitutional rights of churches under the First Amendment do not evaporate in a time of crisis. We cannot allow one person, whether state or local, to have the unchecked discretion to write a church into or out of existence by one word–‘essential.’ Such authority is extraordinary and runs counter to American history.”