The Supreme Court and ‘Pandemic Tyrants’ | Eastern North Carolina Now

Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Mitch Kokai.

    Jonathan Tobin writes for the Federalist about the U.S. Supreme Court's opportunity to defend religious liberty against overly burdensome government restrictions.

  • The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and its ultra-Orthodox Jewish clients beat New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in October. Can they make it two in a row? The rights not just of one faith community but all people of faith, who believe the First Amendment wasn't somehow repealed during the coronavirus outbreak, are at stake in its advocacy in the case of Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo.
  • The lawsuit challenges the right of Cuomo to enforce a discriminatory "cluster initiative," which singles out predominantly Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn for lockdown closures of synagogues, religious schools, and holiday gatherings even though only blocks away restaurants and schools were allowed to remain open.
  • The blatant bias shown by New York's policies are rooted in politics and prejudice that are specific to the fervently religious Orthodox communities. But they are not fundamentally dissimilar from other restrictions that have been applied against houses of worship throughout the country. All across America, governors and mayors, drunk with the power they were either given or seized because of fear of the virus, suddenly decided they could deny rights specifically guaranteed by the Constitution.
  • As Justice Samuel Alito pointed out in a speech earlier this month, the pandemic has provided us a "constitutional stress test." He worried that under the current circumstances, "religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right."
  • The justice made clear that he wasn't "diminishing the severity of the virus' threat to public health" or even "saying anything" about whether lockdown rules were "good public policy." But he was pointing out that "the pandemic has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty" and that this had happened "by executive fiat rather than legislation."

Go Back


Leave a Guest Comment

Your Name or Alias
Your Email Address ( your email address will not be published)
Enter Your Comment ( no code or urls allowed, text only please )




Backlash Likely From New Round of COVID-19 Restrictions John Locke Foundation Guest Editorial, Editorials, Op-Ed & Politics Despite Headlines, Presidential Transition Has Started


HbAD0

Latest Op-Ed & Politics

committee gets enough valid signatures to force vote on removing Oakland, CA's Soros DA
other pro-terrorist protests in Chicago shout "Death to America" in Farsi
Only two of the so-called “three Johns” will be competing to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as leader of the Senate GOP.
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) is looking into whether GoFundMe and Eventbrite cooperated with federal law enforcement during their investigation into the financial transactions of supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Turkish diplomatic sources say he did
Popularity of government leader crashes, even among his own party members.

HbAD1

Wisconsin voters ban private money, nonprofits from the election process after 2020 ‘Zuckerbucks’ controversy; spotlight now on 22 states that still allow it.
6 month old baby fighting for life after mother killed; policewoman finally arrives, shoots knifeman
Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was mocked online late on Monday after video of her yelling at pro-Palestinian activists went viral.
Daily Wire Editor Emeritus Ben Shapiro, along with hosts Matt Walsh, Andrew Klavan, and company co-founder Jeremy Boreing discussed the state of the 2024 presidential election before President Joe Biden gave his State of the Union address on Thursday.
Lots of elements that have to be dug up with heavy fossil fuel vehicles

HbAD2

Yet again we see the truth in the ole saying, once the camel gets his head under the test ain't no tellin what he will do next
joins West Virginia and Montana in ending Renewable Portfolio standards
good Washington Examiner analysis, but where is RNC on pushing back on this issue?
220 migrants storm border, assault border guards, but all are turned back
. . as feds continue to coverup manifesto of trans shooter at Covenant School
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said this week that the criminal trials against former President Donald Trump should happen before the upcoming elections.

HbAD3

 
Back to Top