NYC synagogues, churches file with Supreme Court to lift limit on worship

In October, Gov. Cuomo said that large gatherings of ultra-Orthodox Jews have been responsible for outbreaks in parts of the state, and then threatened to shut down religious institutions.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a daily briefing following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhattan in New York City, New York, US, July 13, 2020. (photo credit: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks during a daily briefing following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Manhattan in New York City, New York, US, July 13, 2020.
(photo credit: MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS)
A number of Orthodox Jewish synagogues in New York and the Roman Catholic Diocese for Brooklyn filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court, requesting it to block Governor Andrew Cuomo's restrictions limiting worship amid the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that they violate religious freedoms.
Cuomo signed an executive order limiting groups of prayer to 10 or 25 people, depending on the classification of the zone in which the place of worship is located, as the US has reported 100,000 daily cases of the coronavirus for the past two weeks.
The lawsuits were filed by the Jewish groups including Agudath Israel of America and Agudath Israel of Kew Garden Hill in New York, arguing that the governor's office participated in "the discriminatory targeting of the Orthodox Jewish community in crafting and implementing [the restrictions]," according to Fox News.
“Applicants themselves are not alleged to have violated any public health or safety rules. To the contrary, they have carefully and successfully complied with mask requirements, social distancing, and capacity constraints,” the lawsuit states. “Yet the Governor’s guilt-by-religious-association restrictions have made it impossible for Applicants and their members to exercise their religious faith.”
It adds that the restrictions imposed upon New Yorkers over the past year have "eliminated the ability of many Jews to worship on important religious holy days” going further to state that it is not “necessary to protect public health."
Justice Stephen Breyer found the lawsuit to have merit and requested the governor's office to respond. Cuomo's office said that "many of the State’s early cases were attributable to religious gatherings that served as super-spreader events.
"Instead, in implementing the Cluster Action Initiative, the State opted to treat religion more favorably," Cuomo's office wrote.
"Specifically, rather than prohibit houses of worship located in red and orange zones from hosting gatherings altogether, Executive Order 202.68 allows such gatherings to occur, subject to limits on their size," the response said. "The order thus accords preferential treatment to religious gatherings in houses of worship, as compared with secular activities that present 'a similar or greater degree' of risk of COVID-19 spread."
In October, Cuomo also said that large gatherings of ultra-Orthodox Jews have been responsible for outbreaks in parts of the state, and then threatened to shut down religious institutions as a result.
This drew criticism from the Jewish community as they were viewed as targeted statements.

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"This cannot happen again. If you do not agree to enforce the rules, then we’ll close the institutions down. I am prepared to do that," Cuomo said at the time, pointing to religious institutions.


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