A San Diego area church and the Thomas More Society were handed a major victory today by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal court vacated the district court’s October 15, 2020, order denying South Bay United Pentecostal Church’s motion for injunctive relief against California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Covid-prompted discrimination. The church in Chula Vista, California, has been fighting for the right to hold unrestricted indoor worship, something the governor has criminalized.

As a result of the recent United States Supreme Court rulings in Harvest Rock Church v. Newsom and Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo that upheld religious rights against excesses in gubernatorial power, the Ninth Circuit remanded the case back to the lower court.

Paul Jonna, Thomas More Society special counsel, applauded the action, saying. “The guidance from the Supreme Court makes it abundantly clear that California’s restrictions on houses of worship are blatantly unconstitutional. We are confident that South Bay will fully vindicate its fundamental constitutional rights in short order.”

Read the order issued December 8, 2020, by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in in South Bay United Pentecostal Church, et al v. Gavin Newsom, et al  here.

The above comes from a Dec. 8 email from the Thomas More Society.