In a polarised case of church attendance, the Supreme Court has ruled against allowing more than 50 individuals in a church in Nevada.
Since the onslaught of coronavirus, many public venues have been shut down. Some of them have been allowed to operate at half their capacity.
The church is located near Reno. The members argued that the worship place should be allowed to operate at half their capacity and not with a cap of 50 individuals. The request came after local businesses in Nevada were allowed to function at half their capacity, given that they follow the COVID-19 guidelines.
The chapel argued that restricting churchgoers violates the parishioner’s rights of expressing and exercising his beliefs.
Chief Justice John Roberts did not offer any explanations after he agreed with the liberal party.
The Conservative party wrote their strong dissent to the ruling.
Justice Samuel Alito criticized the decision and said, “The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. It says nothing about freedom to play craps or blackjack, to feed tokens into a slot machine.”
A counsel for the Nevada chapel, David Cortman, said that the ruling was discriminatory against religion.
