A pandemic Executive Order by the California Governor compelled California churches to meet outdoors. A San Diego congregation protested. The Supreme Court (6-3) blocked the order, tentatively leaving a 25% occupancy limit in place.
Protesting the majority's decision to substitute its own judgment for that of the public health experts informing the Governor, Elena Kagan's conclusion invites discussion of life tenure and the unreviewable power of nine to override expert opinion on control of infectious disease if the court elects to treat it decision as grounded in the Constitution. - GWC
South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom (02/05/2021)All this from unelected actors, “not accountable to the people.” South Bay, 590 U. S., at ___ (ROBERTS, C. J., concurring). I fervently hope that the Court’s intervention will not worsen the Nation’s COVID crisis. But if this decision causes suffering, we will not pay. Our marble halls are now closed to the public, and our life tenure forever insulates us from responsibility for our errors. That would seem good reason to avoid disrupting a State’s pandemic response. But the Court forges ahead regardless, insisting that science-based policy yield to judicial edict. I respectfully dissent.
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