US Supreme Court issues fifth rejection of CA's COVID-19 restrictions on religion
The following quote may be attributed to Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of U.S. Litigation David Cortman regarding the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Friday in Tandon v. Newsom to halt California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 order that limits religious gatherings to three households inside of personal residences while allowing more than three households to gather in other comparable venues:
“With this fifth rejection of California’s COVID-19 restrictions on religious exercise, the Supreme Court has made abundantly clear that the government has a duty to respect the First Amendment in this context and many others. As the court explained, the government can’t single out religious activities for harsher treatment than non-religious ones. The court also rejected the idea that such unfair treatment is okay, in this instance, because people gathering for religious purposes in homes somehow can’t be trusted to take the same precautions as people do in other places. Instead, the decision reaffirms that the government can’t ‘assume the worst when people go to worship but assume the best when people go to work.’ The Supreme Court came to the right and logical conclusion in condemning state restrictions that demonstrate this kind of unconstitutional hostility to religion.”
Alliance Defending Freedom is an alliance-building, non-profit legal organization committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.
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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.