By Pete Williams - NBC News
The United States Supreme Court issued an injunction Wednesday night preventing the New York governor from enforcing the 10- and 25-person occupancy limits in religious institutions, ruling in favor of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath. Israel.
The state had argued to the court that there was no need to act because the restrictions, which were adopted to try to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, had recently been reversed.
New York has more than 619,000 cases and more than 35,000 deaths from coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, according to data from NBC News, Telemundo's sister network.
The court ruled 5-4 in favor of lifting the restrictions imposed on Friday by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Stephen Breyer Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan voted against.
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In an unsigned majority opinion, the court noted that the restrictions would violate religious freedom and are not neutral because they
"target houses of worship especially harshly."
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While religious institutions were affected, companies listed as essential could admit as many people as they wanted, the court noted, and the list of those companies included acupuncture facilities and others that the magistrates said are not essential.
The judicial body alleged that there is no evidence that the organizations that filed the lawsuit contributed to the spread of the coronavirus.
Roberts said he did not see the need to take this action, because the state has reviewed the designations of the affected areas, and
none of the houses of worship that now requested help face numerical restrictions and can offer religious services with a 50% capacity
.
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Breyer argued that if the state tries to reimpose limits, the plaintiffs can go back to court.
Sotomayor and Kagan said granting the court order "will only exacerbate the suffering of the nation."
Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh both submitted appearances.
Neither Amy Coney Barrett nor Samuel Alito presented separate opinions.