Federal court backs Newsom's orders keeping churches closed

In its ruling in the California case, the federal appellate judges who sided with Newsom found the state’s action of shuttering houses of worship due to a health emergency does not “infringe upon or restrict practices because of their religious motivation” and does not “in a selective manner impose burdens only on conduct motivated by religious belief.”

”We’re dealing here with a highly contagious and often fatal disease for which there presently is no known cure,” Judges Jacqueline Nguyen and Barry Silverman wrote in their ruling denying the restraining order.

In reaching its decision, the judges noted that late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson once wrote that if a court “does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”