A little over a week ago in New York City, a federal judge allowed the restrictions that Governor Cuomo implanted on Synagogues and Worship houses to move forward. As what appears to be a second wave of the COVID- 19 virus infects cities in the United States, Governor Cuomo put out an executive order that placed restrictions on large gatherings. These restrictions were put on neighborhoods that were predominantly Orthodox Jews. This ban on gatherings is so controversial as it appeared right before the celebration of three major Jewish Holidays, which is restricting many of the services that are planned to take place. Among the executive order, was restrictions that prohibited any more than 25% capacity or 10 people within a house of worship, school closures, and a shutdown of nonessential businesses. Members of the Jewish Orthodox Community feel especially upset because they think their neighborhood is disproportionately affected. The neighboring communities have not experienced the same implementation of restrictions, because the infection rate was not as high. A fine of $15,000 will be given to any person who violates the large gathering restrictions. In a similar lawsuit, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn argued that it was unfair that almost two dozen churches would have to close due the restrictions. A different judge also declined to prohibit the restrictions.
The question at hand here is, are the Orthodox Jews being directly targeted? Is there a compelling state interest to go forward with the closures? Lawyers of the Synagogue found that these rulings were unconstitutional because they targeted these predominantly Jewish neighborhoods. Because the Jewish Orthodox are prohibited from driving during the three holidays this past weekend, the only synagogues they can go to are the ones within walking distance. This is an issue because the ones located close by are closed. Therefore, they could not travel to places with fewer restrictions even if they wanted to. Whereas the other religious ceremonies would be able to travel out of the hot spot restricted area, the Orthodox Jews are trapped inside a restricted bubble.
The compelling state interest here is that if they lift the restrictions for the holiday weekend, there is a major health risk. Large gatherings have been proven to spread the COVID- 19 virus. If the restrictions are lifted, it puts not only the well-being of the Orthodox Jews in danger, but also those who are not affiliated with the religion in that area, and the surrounding areas. Also, the members of the Jewish Orthodox community believe that they are being directly targeted because they are one of the only neighborhoods that are getting the restrictions placed upon them. They also feel targeted that these restrictions are placed right before three major holidays within their faith.
I agree with Governor Cuomo and the federal judge in this instance. As we have all said many times this year, we are in an unprecedented time. Because of that, some decisions made in this time may seem unfair, but have to be made with the state’s best interests in mind. While it may seem that the Orthodox Jewish community was targeted because of their religious views, they are actually just residing in an area that has a higher infection rate. Inside that area were other churches as well, not just the Orthodox synagogues. If this case were to go to the Supreme Court, I think that the Justices would use the Sherbert test to determine that it is not unconstitutional to prohibit these large gatherings. The health and safety of the nation being laid on the line is enough compelling state interest. The restrictions were made solely to limit the spread of the virus, and it was applied to everybody, not just the Orthodox Jews. Similar to the rulings in the in Goldman v. Weinberger andO’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz,where the court had to rule in favor of the professionals inside the Air Force and the prison, the professionals in this case are the scientists. In this case if the scientists say that it is in the best interests of the nation to put the restrictions up, then we need to trust them.
Another reason that I side with the Governor and the judge in this case is that this decision is not going to set a precedent to continuously restrict religious practices. We are in the midst of a pandemic. Pandemics are rare and cause stress from every angle. With so much uncertainty, I cannot disagree with the scientists. With so much uncertainty about the future, legislators must listen to the science, which tells us that we need to stop gathering in large groups. To conquer a virus like this, the nation needs to work together as a cohesive unit with a common goal to stop the spread.
4 comments:
I agree that although Governor Cuomo’s mandates are restricting Orthodox Jews’ ability to practice their religion and celebrate their holidays, there is an extremely compelling interest in doing so. I like how you related the Goldman v. Weinberger and O’Lone v. Estate of Shabazz to this one where the scientists are the professionals and so should be trusted as that was not an angle I had thought of before when talking about cases related to COVID and other cases involving a compelling interest. Ultimately, I believe the Governor is infringing upon religious liberties in the least restrictive manner given current times and it is important to keep in mind that there are other ways to still celebrate these holidays and services without having to gather in large groups of people.
I would have to agree with you that the compelling state interest in restricting these gatherings comes before the necessity of large religious gatherings. Though the mandates have an effect on Orthodox Jews specifically, the restrictions created by Governor Cuomo are necessary in protecting the overall health and well-being of the citizens. The Covid-19 pandemic is truly unprecedented and as such, putting the health of society needs to be first priority. individuals can still belief what religion they wanna believe but when it comes to meeting in large groups, individuals must adjust to the unprecedented changes that Covid-19 has caused.
I think that your final claim is interesting. Do you believe that there will be no precedent guiding future action or are you certain that no precedent will be set? These are pretty important questions because should these laws now, inform future restrictions of convert into other restrictions which stand in the future than the concern of the Orthodox Jews seems reasonable. I’d imagine they are very much afraid that the governments current laws will never really be dropped as long as it benefits them.
I do agree with the conclusions you came to in your post. I think that it is important to note the compelling state interest in this case. It is clear that the goal of New York and Governor Cuomo is to protect the health of the citizens and granting an exception for the Orthodox Jewish community could hold negative repercussions for their health. Even though I agree with your conclusion, I still find myself having trouble with the idea of placing limitations on religious communities due to the First Amendment itself, but I do think in this case that the compelling state interest is strong enough in this case.
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