Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom lifted all capacity restrictions on houses of worship Monday after months of highly publicized legal battles against churches and five rebukes from the U.S. Supreme Court.
“In response to recent judicial rulings, effective immediately, location and capacity limits on places of worship are not mandatory but are strongly recommended,” read California’s COVID-19 guidance, which was revised Monday. “The linked guidance is in the process of being updated. All other restrictions in the guidance remain in place.”
The Center for American Liberty, which brought three of the five lawsuits in which the Supreme Court ruled against California, lauded the move.
“Governor Newsom should have done this a long time ago,” said Center for American Liberty founder and CEO Harmeet K. Dhillon in a statement to The Daily Wire. “For over a year, the state of California has targeted the faith community for discriminatory treatment depriving them of their fundamental right to worship. It shouldn’t take a decision from the Supreme Court, much less five decisions, for Gov. Newsom to realize that what he has been doing is unconstitutional.”
“Today’s decision is incredibly gratifying for my colleagues and [me] at the Center for American Liberty who have been zealously advocating on behalf of courageous Californians seeking the full restoration of the First Amendment,” Dhillon continued. “While we celebrate the lifting of restrictions today, our work is not done. We will not relent until we have sufficient precedent from the courts prohibiting this civil liberties crisis from ever happening again.”
