The United States Supreme Court has issued orders vacating lower court decisions against churches suing Colorado and New Jersey over each state’s restrictions on worship gatherings.
Last week, the Supreme Court issued an order in the case of Robinson v. Murphy vacating an order from Oct. 2 by a district court in New Jersey against a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi who sued the state over worship gathering restrictions.
At the same time, the high court issued a separate order in the case of High Plains Harvest Church v. Polis, in which a Colorado church challenged the restrictions in that state.
Both orders cited as justification for their granting of relief the recent Supreme Court case of Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, which centered on New York state restrictions on worship gatherings.
The Thomas More Society, a conservative law firm that represented the priest and rabbi at the center of the New Jersey case, celebrated the Supreme Court’s order for Robinson v. Murphy.
Thomas More Society special counsel Christopher Ferrara said, “This order shows that the Supreme Court is truly interested in ensuring churches get equal treatment with secular activities.”
Over the past several months, many states and localities have been accused of wrongly putting tougher rules on churches than other entities.