SOTOMAYOR, J., dissenting
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
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No. 20A87
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ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK v. ANDREW M. CUOMO, GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK
ON APPLICATION FOR INJUNCTIVE RELIEF
[November 25, 2020]
JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR, with whom JUSTICE KAGAN joins, dissenting.
Amidst a pandemic that has already claimed over a quarter million American lives, the Court today enjoins one of New York’s public health measures aimed at containing the spread of COVID–19 in areas facing the most severe outbreaks. Earlier this year, this Court twice stayed its hand when asked to issue similar extraordinary relief. See South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, 590 U. S. ___ (2020); Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak, 591 U. S. ___ (2020). I see no justification for the Court’s change of heart, and I fear that granting applications such as the one filed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn (Diocese) will only exacerbate the Nation’s suffering.[1]
South Bay and Calvary Chapel provided a clear and workable rule to state officials seeking to control the spread of COVID–19: They may restrict attendance at houses of
- ↑ Ironically, due to the success of New York’s public health measures, the Diocese is no longer subject to the numerical caps on attendance it seeks to enjoin. See Brief in Opposition in Agudath Israel of America v. Cuomo, No. 20A90, p. 17. Yet the Court grants this application to ensure that, should infection rates rise once again, the Governor will be unable to reimplement the very measures that have proven so successful at allowing the free (and comparatively safe) exercise of religion in New York.
