US judge says governor has the right to close churches

Gov. Gavin Newsom was within his rights to halt in-person religious services to fight the coronavirus, a federal judge ruled late Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez in Sacramento denied a temporary restraining order sought by a pastor Jonathan Duncan. In late March when police came into his Lodi to force him to cease a service he was holding. Newsom had issued orders earlier in the month that prohibited gatherings, including for religious services. Cross Culture Christian Center v. Newsom, 2:20-cv-00832-JAM-CKD (E.D. Cal., filed April 22, 2020).

Mendez summarized the confrontation in his 20-page order, but said the plaintiffs had failed to show "irreparable harm absent preliminary relief."

Mendez later said such police actions would be barred "under normal circumstances. ... But sometimes, normalcy is lost."

Duncan alleged Newsom's stay-at-home orders that included churches violated the free exercise of religion clause of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. This is a federal law that loosened both zoning restrictions on churches and the understanding of what could be considered a constitutionally protected religious service.

"Both stay-at-home orders flow from valid exercises of state and local emergency police powers," Mendez wrote.

Mendez went on to say he did not need to consider the question of whether church services were more or less dangerous than, for instance, "shopping at Costco." He added the state was able to show the order relied on information provided by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Finally, plaintiffs failed to produce any evidence that their in-person gatherings pose little threat of increasing COVID-19's spread," Mendez said, referring to the prevalence of "asymptomatic carriers."

-- Malcolm Maclachlan