The state's high court relied heavily on earlier U.S. Supreme Court rulings blocking other pandemic-related restrictions on religious gatherings in California and New York. The state court rejected the idea that governors should get more leeway to issue blunt orders that might infringe on rights during the early days of a public health emergency like the pandemic, when far less was known about the virus than is now.
The court instead found the highest level of court review must still apply to restrictions on these fundamental rights. That "strict scrutiny" means the state has to prove its rules are constitutional and isn't afforded the presumption that they are.
"We reject any contention that early in a crisis, the Constitution’s protection of fundamental rights must always yield to the needs of the state to respond to the crisis," the majority opinion by Justice William J. Crain says. "A public health emergency does not relegate the First Amendment to a proposition or allow violations thereof to be judged on a sliding scale of constitutionality."
"The infringement of the fundamental right of the free exercise of religion, whether in times of crisis or calm, must always be strictly scrutinized by our courts," the opinion adds.
After Edwards, a Roman Catholic, issued those orders, Spell continued to have religious services with hundreds of people in his Hooper Road church, even as other local churches went to remote services.
The court instead found the highest level of court review must still apply to restrictions on these fundamental rights. That "strict scrutiny" means the state has to prove its rules are constitutional and isn't afforded the presumption that they are.
"We reject any contention that early in a crisis, the Constitution’s protection of fundamental rights must always yield to the needs of the state to respond to the crisis," the majority opinion by Justice William J. Crain says. "A public health emergency does not relegate the First Amendment to a proposition or allow violations thereof to be judged on a sliding scale of constitutionality."
"The infringement of the fundamental right of the free exercise of religion, whether in times of crisis or calm, must always be strictly scrutinized by our courts," the opinion adds.
After Edwards, a Roman Catholic, issued those orders, Spell continued to have religious services with hundreds of people in his Hooper Road church, even as other local churches went to remote services.
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