In two separate cases today, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated district court opinions (1, 2) denying churches or clergy injunctions against state COVID-19 orders. The Supreme Court ordered those courts to reconsider the cases in light of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo. In one of today’s cases, High Plains Harvest Church v. Polis, (Sup. Ct., Dec. 15, 2020), challenging Colorado restrictions, Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Breyer and Sotomayor dissented on the ground that the case is now moot since the challenged capacity limits have already been lifted. In the second case, Kevin v. Murphy, (Sup. Ct., Dec. 15, 2020), challenging New Jersey restrictions, no dissents to the one paragraph order were recorded. SCOTUSblog has more on the decisions. [updated]
