The Supreme Court ruled that California cannot enforce its COVID-19 restrictions limiting number of households gathered in a home for worship to three.
The 5-4 ruling, which was released late Friday, overturns the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit, which denied motion to prohibit enforcement of restrictions on such gatherings, calling the lower court's decision "erroneous". The majority opinion wasn't signed but included Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, who was confirmed in October.
In February, the Supreme Court also ordered California to allow indoor church services in Tier 1 counties, identified as having more than seven daily new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 people.
"This is the fifth time the court has summarily rejected the Ninth Circuit's analysis of California's COVID restrictions on religious exercise", the majority noted.
