South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom
Description: California Gov. Gavin Newsom implemented COVID-19 restrictions preventing churches and other religious congregations from meeting indoors while other groups have been permitted to do. The restrictions also place a 25% capacity limitation and other restrictions on churches that other groups don't have to abide by.
CA churches free to meet indoors after US Supreme Court order on COVID-19 restrictions
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a significant win for ensuring that government officials do not exceed their authority by bypassing the First Amendment when implementing coronavirus restrictions. Churches in the state may once again meet indoors, and the justices indicated that the other restrictions to which religious gatherings are wrongly subjected may face significant legal and constitutional hurdles going forward. Gov. Newsom has a duty to respect the First Amendment, so he can’t single out church worship services and other religious meetings for the draconian COVID-19 restrictions that many secular activities haven’t faced in California. The Supreme Court is reinforcing what it has affirmed in previous orders: Disparate treatment is both illogical and unconstitutional.”
ADF attorneys recently won their own case, Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak, at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit challenging Nevada’s unconstitutional COVID-19 restrictions on churches and other religious congregations.
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ABOUT David Cortman
David A. Cortman serves as senior counsel and vice president of U.S. litigation with Alliance Defending Freedom. He has been practicing law since 1996, and currently supervises a team of over 40 attorneys and legal staff who specialize in constitutional law, focusing on religious freedom, sanctity of life, and marriage and family. Cortman has litigated hundreds of constitutional law cases including two victories at the U.S. Supreme Court. In Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, he secured a 7-2 victory that overturned Missouri’s denial of a religious school’s participation in a state funding program. Cortman also argued Reed v. Town of Gilbert, securing a 9-0 ruling that prohibits the government from discriminating against religious speech. A member of the bar in Georgia, Florida, Arizona, and the District of Columbia, he is also admitted to practice in over two dozen federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Cortman obtained his J.D. magna cum laude from Regent University School of Law.