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SCOTUS Orders Lower Court To Revisit Ruling Against Pasadena Church

PASADENA (CBSLA) - A Pasadena church which sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state's COVID-19 restrictions will get another day in court following a U.S. Supreme Court order.

Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry recently sought to block Newsom's ban on indoor singing and chanting in churches, but was denied in its bid to overturn the order by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

In an unsigned order Thursday, the Supreme Court sent the case involving back to the appeals court after the ministries argued the governor's "tyrannical" executive orders that limited places of worship are unconstitutional and discriminate against churches.

The nation's highest court ruled against the government in a similar case in New York on Nov. 25, when the court ruled 5-4 in favor of houses of worship challenging New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's coronavirus-related restrictions.

Newsom has halted reopening plans and put almost all of California back under a strict set of rules as a result of the dramatic rise in coronavirus cases throughout the state in November, including prohibiting indoor worship and requiring the majority of indoor businesses to close or operate at a fraction of their capacity.

Earlier this summer, Harvest Rock defied Newsom's order not to have indoor church services and filed suit alleging the governor waunfairly targeting places of worship, citing ongoing large protests throughout the county against police brutality.

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