Key Cases
COVID-19 Executive Orders Restricting In-Person Worship
Upheld
In Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak, 140 S.Ct.
203 (2020), the U.S. Supreme Court declined to enjoin Nevada Gov.
Steve Sisolak's emergency order capping in-person services at
50 people regardless of facility size while allowing secular
businesses such as casinos to open subject to an occupancy cap of
up to 50 percent of the building capacity. Associate Justices
Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented, each
indicating that at the outset of an emergency it may be appropriate
for courts to tolerate blunt rules, but emphasizing that a public
health emergency does not give public officials carte blanch to
disregard the Constitution.
