Maine church asks Supreme Court to scrap COVID-era worship service restrictions

A Maine church is asking the Supreme Court to block restrictions against houses of worship during the coronavirus pandemic, claiming that limiting its ability to hold religious services while exempting other activities and businesses for being "essential" violates its rights under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.

"Despite the abundant precedent from this Court, Maine ignored it all and continued to impose discriminatory and unconstitutional restrictions on religious worship services long after it became clear they were unconstitutional," the church said in its petition. "In fact, even after all of the various restrictions had been enjoined or rescinded, Maine maintained the dubious distinction of imposing the most severe restrictions in the nation on places of worship." Earlier in the pandemic, the church recalled, Gov. Janet Mills prohibited all gatherings for religious services at houses of worship before eventually allowing them – first capped at 10 people, then 50, then five people for every 1,000 square feet, which was still 50 for the Calvary Chapel. While the toughest restrictions are no longer in place, the church is worried that that they could be reinstated due to concerns over the COVID-19 delta variant.