Ben Rhodes, Barack Obama's former deputy national security adviser, called the 5-4 judgment "illegitimate," adding that the decision would put "more lives in danger."
The court announced an order on Wednesday night, restraining New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo from enforcing a 10- and 25-person occupancy limit on religious services. The request was brought forth by the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel.
New York officials have created a color-coding system to mark what levels they believe the pandemic has affected certain areas. Claims brought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel of America lead to the ruling.
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“Stemming the spread of COVID-19 is unquestionably a compelling interest, but it is hard to see how the challenged regulations can be regarded as ‘narrowly tailored,’” the Supreme Court said in the unsigned majority opinion.
“They are far more restrictive than any COVID-related regulations that have previously come before the Court, much tighter than those adopted by many other jurisdictions hard-hit by the pandemic, and far more severe than has been shown to be required to prevent the spread of the virus at the applicants’ services.”
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The unsigned majority decision said the limitations would defile religious freedom and were not unbiased since they "single out houses of worship for especially harsh treatment," according to NBC News.
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Chief Justice John Roberts, along with the three leftists Justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer, disagreed. Sotomayor and Kagan claimed that giving the order “will only exacerbate the nation’s suffering.”
Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh filed concurrences, but neither Amy Coney Barrett nor Samuel Alito filed separate opinions.
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New York officials claimed there was no need in taking action on the offer since the state already scaled its limitations.
Cuomo said the case will go back to a lower court, but he was not disconcerted about the decision since it would not influence the state's rules much.
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"The decision isn’t final. Second, it didn’t affect our mass gathering rules. So, it didn’t mention those. It didn’t mention the overall limits," said Cuomo, who questioned why the court ruled "on an issue that is moot?”
Roberts concurred with Cuomo's view, saying he did not see a need to do something because of the state's reduction. Breyer said if the state wants to reimpose the limits, the plaintiffs can return to the court.
The ruling was endorsed by President Trump in a tweet, who shared the ruling, adding "HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"
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