Last week, the Supreme Court refused to grant a request from Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley to strike down an unconstitutional 50-person cap on worship services in Nevada. The church, located east of Reno, claimed that they should be able to adhere to the same COVID-19 restrictions in Nevada that allow casinos, restaurants and other businesses to operate at 50% capacity with proper social distancing.

Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley had argued that the strict limit on those who could attend religious gatherings was an unconstitutional violation of its parishioners’ First Amendment rights to express and exercise their beliefs.

This was another sharply divided 5-4 decision made by the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts once again sided with the liberal majority but did not give an explanation for his decision. Three of the four dissenting judges had plenty to say.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated that the courts should be “very deferential to the states’ line-drawing in opening businesses and allowing certain activities during the pandemic. But COVID-19 is not a blank check for a state to discriminate against religious people, religious organizations and religious services. Nevada is discriminating against religion.”

“The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion,” wrote Justice Samuel Alito. “It says nothing about the freedom to play craps, or blackjack, [or] feed tokens into a slot machine.” He added that “by allowing thousands to gather in casinos, the state cannot claim to have a compelling interest in limiting religious gatherings to 50 people – regardless of the size of the facility and the measures adopted to prevent the spread of the virus.”

Justice Neil Gorsuch summed it up best, “The world we inhabit today, with a pandemic upon us, poses unusual challenges. But there is no world in which the Constitution permits Nevada to favor Caesars Palace over Calvary Chapel.”