Gov. J.B. Pritzker scored a win in federal court after a panel of judges ruled his 10-person cap on religious gatherings was constitutional.
A panel of Seventh Circuit Appellate Court judges released its opinion Tuesday in Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church and Logos Baptist Ministries v. Pritzker. The panel affirmed Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s crowd restriction, which he canceled, does not run afoul of the First Amendment.
In the opinion, they say religious institutions holding congregations do not elevate to the level of need as a grocery store or meat market.
“It would be foolish to pretend that worship services are exactly like any of the possible comparisons, but they seem most like other congregate functions that occur in auditoriums, such as concerts and movies,” Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote in the opinion, referring to a similar, but non-precedential, statement from U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
“Any of these indoor activities puts members of multiple families close to one another for extended periods, while invisible droplets containing the virus may linger in the air. Functions that include speaking and singing by the audience increase the chance that persons with COVID-19 may transmit the virus through the droplets that speech or song inevitably produce.”
The plaintiffs’ attorney and Liberty Counsel founder Mat Staver called the comparison “shocking” on Wednesday.
“Judges neither have the competency nor are they authorized to make determinations as to the orthodoxy or the importance of your worship nor can they dictate the manner and the form or even the necessity of worship,” he said.
Pritzker walked back the restrictions in late May after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh referred the matter to the nation’s high court. Liberty Counsel insisted the case be heard, arguing that Pritzker could easily reinstate his restrictions once the suit is dismissed.
Pritzker’s office didn’t respond to questions about the ruling, not saying if they would reinstate the crowd ban for religious institutions.
In oral arguments, judges repeatedly asked Illinois Assistant Attorney General Priyanka Gupta if she could guarantee Pritzker would confer with the court before reinstating his 10-person restriction on religious institutions. Both times, Gupta told them that they would not commit to doing that.
Staver said they plan to ask for the entire appellate court to hear the case, called an en banc hearing.
With multiple appellate ruling going toward each side of a similar argument, Staver said the case was “ripe” for Supreme Court consideration.
