tresir2012
Former Member
- Joined
- May 7, 2019
- Messages
- 11,156
- Reaction score
- 56,467
Judge blocks 25% capacity rule for religious services in NY
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Friday blocked New York state from enforcing coronavirus restrictions limiting indoor religious gatherings to 25% capacity when other types of gatherings are limited to 50%.
<snip>
“The idea that houses of worship are some deadly viral vector unlike anything else is just superstition,” Ferrara said in a telephone interview. “There’s no science to support that.”
Restrictions limiting the number of people who can attend outdoor religious gatherings will also be lifted by the injunction.
Federal Judge Rules Cuomo, De Blasio Exceeded Authority by Restricting Religious Services While Condoning Protests
De Blasio issued “simultaneous pro-protest/anti-religious gathering messages” and “actively encouraged participation in protests and openly discouraged religious gatherings and threatened religious worshipers,” the judge said in his order.
The lawsuit claims that the governor, mayor, and attorney general violated the First Amendment and due-process rights of the plaintiffs by selectively enforcing pandemic-control measures. Even as mass protests were allowed to take place across the state, people of faith were targeted with threats of criminal prosecution and $1000 fines for violating the restrictions on group gatherings, the suit alleges.
Federal Judge Blocks Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio’s Coronavirus Limits on Religious Gatherings
The judge similarly chided Mayor de Blasio for attending a George Floyd gathering “without a mask” which did not following the same distancing measures he placed upon religious gatherings.
The plaintiffs included an eclectic mix of Catholic and Jewish leaders who were unable to fulfil the commandments of their faiths due to the restrictions placed upon them by the government, the lawsuit alleged.
I am not surprised at this result. It follows the letter that the AG sent on the same subject. TY for posting.