{"id":417913,"date":"2021-04-13T13:58:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-13T17:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=417913"},"modified":"2021-04-13T13:58:19","modified_gmt":"2021-04-13T17:58:19","slug":"newsom-backs-down-on-church-crackdown-following-supreme-court-smackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/newsom-backs-down-on-church-crackdown-following-supreme-court-smackdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom Backs Down on Church Crackdown Following Supreme Court Smackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnewsom-backs-down-on-church-crackdown-following-supreme-court-smackdown%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=417913&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div readability=\"30.213197969543\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"article-category\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-excerpt\">California lifts worship restrictions after string of legal defeats<\/p>\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail-container relative lg:mr-24 w-full my-4 mb-8\">\n\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"736\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-1678.jpeg\" class=\"w-full lazyload blur-up wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 736px) 100vw, 736px\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-1677.jpeg 736w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1311147763_736x514-300x210.jpg 300w, https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/GettyImages-1311147763_736x514-703x491.jpg 703w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" \/><figcaption class=\"absolute text-white p-4 w-full text-right text-xs bottom-0 bg-black opacity-75\">\n\t\t\t\tGetty Images\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"text-gray text-xs md:text-lg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/author\/graham-piro\/\" title=\"Posts by Graham Piro\" rel=\"author\" class=\"text-red-700\">Graham Piro<\/a> \u2022 April 13, 2021 1:40 pm<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n<div readability=\"81.144719687093\">\n<p>Embattled Democratic governor Gavin Newsom (Calif.) will once again allow worshippers to attend church, but they better keep quiet, according to new coronavirus restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In response to recent judicial rulings, effective immediately, location and capacity limits on places of worship are not mandatory but are strongly recommended,&#8221; updated guidance on the state&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/covid19.ca.gov\/industry-guidance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/covid19.ca.gov\/industry-guidance\/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1618409038951000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEG5RMxzh0D_r9I5T62fgIkE-3-Qg\">website<\/a> now reads.&nbsp;The state&#8217;s restrictions on&nbsp;activities like singing and chanting remain in place and the guidance treats these activities the same as secular live performances. Physical distancing and mask-wearing are still required for indoor singing.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom&#8217;s administration has repeatedly lost legal battles launched by churches and other places of worship challenging the state&#8217;s limits on in-person worship.&nbsp;Xavier Becerra, as California&#8217;s attorney general, argued that limiting in-person worship was integral to fighting the spread of coronavirus. But federal courts swatted down the Democratic policies for singling out religious activities and organizations even as it eased onerous shutdown orders for secular organizations.<\/p>\n<p>The state government had attempted to limit activities like Bible or prayer groups to three households or fewer while enforcing more lax restrictions on those activities outside of the home. The move comes days after the Supreme Court dealt another blow to California&#8217;s COVID-19 restrictions on worship. In a 5-4 ruling Friday, the High Court declared the state&#8217;s limitations on at-home religious worship unlawful.&nbsp;The Court said the state was treating &#8220;some comparable secular activities more favorably than at-home religious exercise&#8221; and that it &#8220;cannot assume the worst when people go to worship but assume the best when people go to work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Religious liberty advocates welcomed the new policy. The Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm that represented several churches in the state, said&nbsp;it is ready to challenge future attempts to restrict worship in the Golden State.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our work is far from over\u2014we still need to ensure the state can&#8217;t revert to its unconstitutional regime in the future, and we&#8217;re continuing to challenge other restrictions on churches,&#8221; attorney Paul Jonna said. &#8220;The capacity guidance for places of worship is now only \u2018recommended&#8217; and not mandatory. This is a huge win that God has provided for all people of faith.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Newsom administration did not respond to requests for comment about the new guidances or the Supreme Court ruling.<\/p>\n<p>In February, the Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/biden-administration\/biden-cabinet-pick-defended-unconstitutional-religious-restrictions\/\">struck down<\/a> the state&#8217;s outright ban on indoor gatherings for worship while leaving in place bans on singing. The Court determined that constitutionally protected activity like religious observance could not be treated differently than other secular activities.<\/p>\n<p>Newsom <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/state-watch\/547818-federal-stimulus-boosts-newsom-ahead-of-recall\">said<\/a> he wants to reopen the state fully by mid-June in the face of criticism for his handling of the coronavirus crisis, as well as his own <a href=\"https:\/\/freebeacon.com\/democrats\/new-photos-reveal-newsom-lied-about-posh-napa-valley-dinner\/\">violations<\/a>&nbsp;of pandemic rules. He faces a potential recall that is expected to take place in the fall. Newsom is also up for reelection in 2022.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California lifts worship restrictions after string of legal defeats  Getty Images  Graham Piro \u2022 April 13, 2021 1:40 pm Embattled Democratic governor &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2312106,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-1678.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Newsom Backs Down on Church Crackdown Following Supreme Court Smackdown","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-417913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-1678.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Newsom Backs Down on Church Crackdown Following Supreme Court Smackdown","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2312106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}