Religious groups suing New York virus curbs get Supreme Court backing

Justices split 5-4 with Justice Amy Barrett in the majority. File pic

As novel coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court late on Wednesday barred New York from enforcing certain limits on attendance at churches and synagogues in areas designated as hard hit by the virus.

The justices split 5-4 with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was the conservative's first publicly discernible vote as a justice. The three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.

The move was a shift for the court. Earlier this year, when Barrett's liberal predecessor, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was still on the court, the justices divided 5-4 to leave in place capacity curbs affecting churches in California and Nevada.

"The restrictions at issue here... strike at the very heart of the First Amendment's guarantee of religious liberty," the opinion said

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