In New York, Gov Cuomo reversed course and allowed a shul for girls to reopen in the Brooklyn-Queens cluster of Jewish hot spots.
Yitzchok and Chana Lebovits send their daughters to Bais Yaakov Ateres Miriam, an Orthodox Jewish school for girls.However, the "success" amounts only to Gov Cuomo deciding essentially on a whim not to act against a single shul. No other loosening against other ultra-Ordhodox groups seems to be contemplated.The Lebovitses filed a lawsuit against Cuomo for religious discrimination after the Democratic governor banned what he dubbed “hot spots,” which also happen to be places where Orthodox Jewish communities live, worship, and attend school.
. . . Fortunately, Cuomo announced Wednesday that he had decided to reverse course and allow the school to reopen. This was a victory for religious liberty.
In what was called a victory for religious freedom, a federal court judge’s decision Thursday [October 15] means congregants at Colorado churches will no longer be required to wear masks or limit their numbers as required by the governor of Colorado’s COVID-19 mandates.In Oregon, based on the allegations in a lawsuit, Gov Kate Brown has allowed public schools to reopen for in-person instruction, but forbidden private schools to reopen on the same basis.The pastors of two Colorado churches — Bob Enyart of Denver Bible Church in Wheat Ridge and Joey Rhoads of Community Baptist Church in Brighton – filed the lawsuit in August.
. . . In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel D. Domenico stated, “…the Constitution does not allow the State to tell a congregation how large it can be when comparable secular gatherings are not so limited, or to tell a congregation that its reason for wishing to remove facial coverings is less important than a restaurant’s or spa’s.”
Brown’s office had promised Hermiston Christian School for nearly two months that it could serve its 51 students in person before flip-flopping and ordering private schools in late July to remain closed[.]The allegation is that Brown is primarily concerned that if private schools are allowed to reopen, parents would send their children to them rather than to public schools.
The case of the Taste of Sicily restaurant in Palmyra, PA is intriguing:
Taste of Sicily, a Lebanon County restaurant has won its case against Governor Tom Wolf.This reinforces my view that in many cases, since COVID restrictions are actually a patchwork of state, county, and municipal executive orders, health department orders, and other emergency actions, they are unenforceable, since their legal status may be shaky. In the Taste of Sicily case, the local district attorney had already stated he would not prosecute COVID violations, which has been the case in other well-publicized civil disobedience, such as the Owosso, MI barber.This comes after opening to full capacity back in May during the yellow phase of Governor Wolf’s restrictions.
. . . [Restaurant spokesman Mike] Magnano’s attorney Winter said the Department of Agriculture tried to cite the restaurant for things they couldn’t lawfully cite them for. Winter adds citations have to be prosecuted by the attorney general or local district attorney.
Taste of Sicily pleaded not guilty. Judge Carl Garvey ruled the family business was unconstitutionally cited and the restaurant was found not guilty.
“The crux of the legal argument is that orders that have been issued by the Governor and The Department of Health are legally unenforceable. Judge Garvey agreed with that argument,“ Winter said.
