On May 29, 2020, the United States Supreme Court rejected a challenge to California’s religious gathering limits, which order attendance in churches or places of worship to a maximum of 25% or 100 attendees.
The 5-4 decision was joined by Chief Justice Roberts who warned against intervening in emergencies: “Where those broad limits are not exceeded, they should not be subject to second-guessing by an ‘unelected federal judiciary,’ which lacks the background, competence, and expertise to assess public health and is not accountable to the people.”
Justice Kavanaugh joined the remaining three Republican-appointed justices in dissenting from the ruling, arguing that the California limits “indisputably discriminates against religion.”
