CA Church Petitions SCOTUS Over Restrictions On In-Person Worship | Chief Justice Told Graduating Seniors To Learn Humility From Pandemic
May 26, 2020
WORDS OF WISDOM
|A California church is asking the Supreme Court to block GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM’S restrictions on in-person church services due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A petition was filed over the weekend arguing to justices that Newsom is discriminating against places of worship in violation of their right to Free Exercise of Religion under the First Amendment. The justices were asked to step in after a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel declined to disturb the state government’s action. Judges wrote for that decision, “We’re dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure…In the words of Justice Robert Jackson, if a ‘court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.'”
CATCH AND RELEASE
|Friday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to block a judge’s order requiring a low-security federal prison in Ohio transfer, release or send home some of its elderly and medically vulnerable inmates. The ACLU’s national legal director, DAVID COLE, said the order aimed at protecting inmates will save lives. He said, “Around the country, courts have been slow to step in and take responsibility to protect the tens of thousands of incarcerated people who are at risk from this virus. Bold leadership from courts will be required to mitigate the humanitarian crisis we’re facing.” David Savage with the Los Angeles Times reports.
GO FORTH AND (TRY TO) PROSPER
|Mark Sherman with The Associated Press reports on what CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS told graduating seniors at his son’s high school in a video message posted over the weekend. The chief justice said the pandemic should teach us humility at the very least, as it “pierced our illusion of certainty and control.” Sherman notes, “Roberts didn’t talk about the Supreme Court’s hefty load of high-profile cases that include disputes over PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S taxes, abortion, LGBT rights and protections for young immigrants.”
WHICH ROBE
|Tony Mauro with The National Law Journal also covered CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS speaking to young graduates in his pre-taped commencement speech. Roberts told students to “not let the extraordinary events of the past few months obscure your genuine accomplishments or cause you to overlook how fortunate you have been.” Roberts also made a joke about being asked whether the justices wore their robes at home while they did their remote oral arguments earlier this month. Roberts said, “I didn’t know if the person was asking judicial or bath.” You can read the full transcript of his remarks here.
AN UNMITIGATED SUCCESS
|The Editorial Board of The Washington Post argues SCOTUS should continue with its recent practice of allowing the public to listen live to oral arguments. The Ed Board writes of the Supreme Court’s remote live arguments this month, “The broadcasts have been an unmitigated success. Flourishing now in the radio age, the court should remain there, and even consider taking the next daring step: to the television age.”