SOUTH BAY UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH III v. NEWSOM (2020)

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

SOUTH BAY UNITED PENTECOSTAL CHURCH, a California nonprofit corporation; Bishop Arthur Hodges III, an individual, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. Gavin NEWSOM, in his official capacity as the Governor of California; Xavier Becerra, in his official capacity as the Attorney General of California; Sonia Angell, in her official capacity as California Public Health Officer; Wilma J. Wooten, in her official capacity as Public Health Officer, County of San Diego; Helen Robbins-Meyer, in her official capacity as Director of Emergency Services; William D. Gore, in his official capacity as Sheriff of the County of San Diego, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20-55533

Decided: December 08, 2020

Before: Kim McLane Wardlaw and Richard C. Clifton, Circuit Judges, and Timothy Hillman,** District Judge.

Charles S. LiMandri, Paul M. Jonna, Jeffrey M. Trissell, and Milan L. Brandon, LiMandri & Jonna LLP, Rancho Santa Fe, California; Thomas Brejcha and Peter Breen, Thomas More Society, Chicago, Illinois; Harmett K. Dhillon and Mark P. Meuser, Dhillon Law Group Inc., San Francisco, California; for Plaintiffs-Appellants. Thomas E. Montgomery, County Counsel; Timothy M. White and Jeffrey P. Michalowski, Senior Deputies; Office of County Counsel, San Diego, California; for County Defendants-Appellees. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General; Thomas S. Patterson, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Paul Stein, Supervising Deputy Attorney General; Lisa J. Plank and Todd Grabarsky, Deputy Attorneys General; Office of the Attorney General, Los Angeles, California; for State Defendants-Appellees. Alex J. Luchenitser, Richard B. Katskee, and Alexander Gouzoules, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Washington, D.C., for Amici Curiae Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Bend the Arc: A Jewish Partnership for Justice, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Disciples Justice Action Network, Interfaith Alliance Foundation, Men of Reform Judaism, Methodist Federation for Social Action, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Reconstructing Judaism, Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association, Southwest Conference of the United Church of Christ, Union for Reform Judaism, and Women of Reform Judaism.