The members of the majority were Judge Raymond J. Lohier Jr., who was appointed by President Barack Obama, and Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who ordinarily sits on Federal District Court in Manhattan and who was appointed by Mr. Clinton.
Judge Michael H. Park, who was appointed by President Trump, dissented. He said Governor Cuomos order discriminated against houses of worship because it allowed businesses like liquor stores and pet shops to remain open without capacity restrictions.
In asking the Supreme Court to step in, lawyers for the diocese argued that its spacious churches were safer than many secular businesses that can open without restrictions, such as pet stores and brokers offices and banks and bodegas. An hourlong Mass, the dioceses brief said, is shorter than many trips to a supermarket or big-box store, not to mention a 9-to-5 job.
Lawyers for Mr. Cuomo said gatherings like those at churches and theaters were different from shopping trips. The states limits on mass gatherings have consistently recognized that the risk of transmitting Covid-19 is much greater at gatherings where people arrive and depart at the same time and congregate and mingle for a communal activity over an extended period of time, the governors appeals court brief said.
Judge Park, the dissenting appeals court judge, twice served as a law clerk to Justice Alito, once on the federal appeals court in Philadelphia and once on the Supreme Court. His dissent anticipated the remarks his former boss delivered on Thursday.
The pandemic, Justice Alito said, has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.
This is especially evident with respect to religious liberty, he added. It pains me to say this, but in certain quarters religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right.read more
Case on Churches, Cuomo and Coronavirus Arrives at Supreme Court
