Cuomo faces federal lawsuit over COVID-19 restrictions
According to the suit, social distancing rules are not neutral policy but instead a 'content-based regulation of First Amendment-protected activity.'
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is facing a legal challenge over continuing COVID-19 gathering restrictions for houses of worship in New York.
Two Catholic priests and three Brooklyn residents who practice Orthodox Judaism brought the suit on June 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York.
Days before, the third-term Democrat signed an executive order permitting gatherings for houses of worship if they do not exceed 25% occupancy. Though, that rule only applies to regions of the state that have moved to phase two of the state’s reopening scheme. Social distancing and disinfection protocols required by the Department of Health should also be followed for those gatherings, according to the order.
The lawsuit asks the court for a declaratory judgment deeming the restriction unconstitutional.
According to the suit, social distancing rules are not neutral policy but instead a “content-based regulation of First Amendment-protected activity.”
“Favored businesses, entities and activities, as well as favored mass demonstrations such as those over the death of George Floyd, are totally exempt from the challenged gathering limits,” the lawsuit argues.
Cuomo has approved of the protests, which have drawn large crowds, according to the suit.
“Limiting the size of synagogue congregations to ten persons or mandating that the congregants attend ‘drive-in”’ services in closed motor vehicles … when numerous secular gatherings and the mass demonstrations now occurring are exempted from any such restrictions, unduly burdens plaintiffs’ sincerely held religious beliefs,” the suit argues.
On the house of worship restrictions limiting occupancy, the lawsuit claims that it is a “serious deprivation of their exercise of the Catholic religion.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and state Attorney General Letitia James are listed as defendants in the suit, along with Cuomo.
Previously in New York, lockdown measures spurred by COVID-19 had canceled all non-essential gatherings.
Cuomo has run into legal trouble before over his COVID-19 restrictions. Last month, he got rid of the state’s near-total ban on gatherings the same day he faced a legal challenge from the New York Civil Liberties Union over exceptions to the rule. Those exceptions had initially allowed for gatherings of up to 10 people for religious services and Memorial Day ceremonies.
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