Los Angeles County's new stay-at-home order exempting churches is being viewed as a "game-changer."
Attorney Brad Dacus of Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) reports that the county's public health officer has made a major reversal in the policies regarding the rights and abilities of churches to meet in person while coming down with greater restrictions on businesses in terms of things like occupancy allowances.
"It went ahead and acknowledged that churches, houses of worship, and protests are protected by the First Amendment, and therefore no restrictions were placed with regards to occupancy," Dacus relays. "This is a major game-changer, and this is following the Supreme Court decision, which effectively ruled the same."
That recent 5-4 ruling temporarily blocked the state of New York's limits on houses of worship.
Dacus
"The decision by the Supreme Court about a week ago ruling against Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) and his extreme restrictive measures about churches meeting and their occupancy allowances was struck down as unconstitutional," notes Dacus. "Basically the Supreme Court made it very clear that unequal treatment is not constitutional, and, in fact, if the government allows any secular entity, like an airport, for example, to have very low restriction or no restrictions, then they have to allow that same degree of low restrictions or no restrictions to churches and church gatherings."
This, says Dacus, should "liberate churches all across the nation" as law firms move forward to defend those who still have local governments or state governments enforcing what Dacus calls those "unconstitutional mandates and restrictions."