California churches sue governor over COVID-19 social distancing orders, citing First Amendment

Three churches in southern California, which wanted to keep their doors open during the COVID-19 pandemic, filed a lawsuit on Monday against Governor Gavin Newsom and other officials, according to the Los Angeles Times. The plaintiffs argued that social distancing orders violated the rights to religion and assembly protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit was brought before the Federal Court for the Central District of California. It named the state’s prosecutor and officials from San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the newspaper reported. The suit seeks to block Newsom’s statewide stay-at-home order, which was issued for a month, and the county order aimed at slowing the spread of the virus by keeping most people at home, closing businesses described as essential, and prohibiting gatherings.

According to the report, the orders do not list places of worship among the essential services where in-person contact is permitted. Three churches in San Bernardino and Riverside counties were named in the case.

The lawsuit states that one of the plaintiffs, a priest at a church in Enido, was fined $1,000 for violating the Riverside County order after he prayed beside an ambulance. The filing describes the penalty as a violation of the county’s decision, and the account of the fine comes from the lawsuit itself.

The report also described a separate enforcement action in Santa Cruz, California. Seven people were fined $1,000 each, for a total of $7,000, for drinking on a street in violation of the suspension orders issued in response to the outbreak. Andrew Mills, the city’s police commander, said the seven had traveled to Santa Cruz from Fremont, on San Francisco Bay, a distance of 50 miles.

The lawsuit’s claims about the orders’ constitutionality and the fines it describes remain allegations in a pending case. The report said that California had recorded more than 23,000 confirmed cases of the virus and 680 deaths.

Source: Read the original report (translated from Arabic)