By John M. Grondelski, Crisis Magazine, August 27, 2020
Attacking the four dissenters in the July 24 Supreme Court decision refusing relief to the chapel that sued Nevada for imposing more restrictive indoors assembly numbers on churches than on casinos, New York Times reporter Linda Greenhouse accused them of pursuing a religious “crusade.” We all know that crusades are led by sectarian ignoramuses whose zealotry ignores science, relying on evidence such as the “well-documented role of religious services in spreading the virus.” Unlike those religious zealots, however, Greenhouse is willing to give much broader—in fact, practically unlimited—scope to a governor’s discretion, all in the name of “public health.” In his dissent, Justice Alito said that the governor claimed “virtually unbounded power to restrict constitutional rights during the Covid-19 pandemic.” The sole difference was that Alito found this problematic, whereas for Greenhouse it was no problem at all. …