Earlier this month a federal judge ruled that Newsom had the right to ban church services in the interest of public health after a Lodi church—whose locks were changed when they were found to be in violation of the order— filed a lawsuit.

But just this week, in a three-page letter to Governor Newsom, Eric Dreiband, who heads up the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, cautioned that his reopening plans “cannot unfairly burden religious services as California has done”.

Citing that there was no pandemic exception to the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights, Dreiband went on to state, “Places of worship are not permitted to hold religious worship services until Stage 3.

However, in Stage 2, schools, restaurants, factories, offices, shopping malls, swap meets, and others are permitted to operate with social distancing… This constitutes precisely the kind of differential treatment the Supreme Court identified in the Lukumi decision in which the government is not willing to impose on certain activities the same restrictions it is willing to impose on constitutionally protected religious worship.”

“Religious communities have rallied to protect their communities from the spread of this disease by making services available online, in parking lots, or outdoors, by indoor services with a majority of pews empty, and in numerous other creative ways that otherwise comply with social distancing and sanitation guidelines.

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