While most Americans were at home prepping for the big day, nine Supreme Court justices were still at the office Wednesday night, cooking up something else: a rebuke of New York City's COVID restrictions. In her coming out party, new Justice Amy Coney Barrett made her presence felt -- casting the tie-breaking vote that only solidified the working mom's standing as a rock-solid defender of religious freedom.


The rookie justice, in her first major case, didn't wait long to prove her supporters right. After just four weeks on the job, Barrett has made it crystal clear that the balance of power has officially shifted. For the first time in years, someone other than Chief Justice John Roberts cast the deciding vote on a fundamental constitutional question. And to the delight of conservatives, it was a vote that reminded Americans that religious liberty doesn't take a back seat to the whims of liberal leaders as they navigate the challenges of a virus. Joining forces with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, President Trump's trio of Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh sent a blunt warning to states that the pandemic is no excuse to tamper with the First Amendment.


"[E]ven if the Constitution has taken a holiday during this pandemic," Gorsuch insisted, "it cannot become a sabbatical." His pointed message was meant for Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), who's made it his mission to keep churches and synagogues closed for months under the guise of "public safety." Sick and tired of the unfair treatment, Brooklyn's Catholic Diocese and two Jewish congregations took the governor to court, insisting that religious communities had been "singled out" for "blame and retribution" during the spiking virus cases. In what New York City calls "red zones," only 10 people can worship together. One level lower, in the "orange zones," that number is capped at 25 -- even if the churches have capacity for 1,000 people.



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