Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/22pdf/22-592_5hd5.pdf
Page Number: 5

Cite as:  598 U. S. ____ (2023) 

5 

Statement of GORSUCH, J. 

public and private.14  They closed churches even as they al-
lowed  casinos  and  other  favored  businesses  to  carry  on.15 
They threatened violators not just with civil penalties but
with criminal sanctions too.16  They surveilled church park-
ing lots, recorded license plates, and issued notices warning
that attendance at even outdoor services satisfying all state
social-distancing  and  hygiene  requirements  could  amount
to  criminal  conduct.17  They  divided  cities  and  neighbor-
hoods into color-coded zones, forced individuals to fight for 
their freedoms in court on emergency timetables, and then 
changed  their  color-coded  schemes  when  defeat  in  court 
seemed imminent.18 

Federal executive officials entered the act too.  Not just
with  emergency  immigration  decrees.  They  deployed  a 
public-health agency to regulate landlord-tenant relations 
nationwide.19  They used a workplace-safety agency to issue
a vaccination mandate for most working Americans.20  They 

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14 See, e.g., Rossi v. Arch Ins. Co., 60 F. 4th 1189, 1192 (CA8 2023) (not-
ing that “state and local governments” across the country issued “stay-
at-home  orders”  that  shuttered  businesses);  Kentucky  ex rel.  Danville 
Christian Academy, Inc. v. Beshear, 981 F. 3d 505, 507 (CA6 2020) (not-
ing that the Governor of Kentucky prohibited “in-person instruction at 
all public and private elementary and secondary schools”); see generally
COVID–19 Resources for State Leaders. 

15 Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak, 591 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) 
(GORSUCH, J., dissenting from denial of application for injunctive relief ) 
(slip op., at 1). 

16 See, e.g., D. Burke, Police Arrest Florida Pastor for Holding Church 
Services  Despite  Stay-at-Home  Order,  CNN  (Mar. 30,  2020),  https://
www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/us/florida-pastor-arrested-river-church/index.html. 

17 Roberts v. Neace, 958 F. 3d 409, 412 (CA6 2020) (per curiam). 
18 Roman  Catholic Diocese  of Brooklyn  v.  Cuomo,  592  U. S.  ___,  ___– 
___ (2020) (per curiam) (slip op., at 1–7); see also South Bay United Pen-
tecostal Church v. Newsom, 592 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2021) (statement of 
GORSUCH, J.) (slip op., at 1–6). 

19 Alabama  Assn.  of  Realtors  v.  Department  of  Health  and  Human 

Servs., 594 U. S. ___, ___ (2021) (per curiam) (slip op., at 1). 

20 National Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA, 595 U. S. ___, 

___ (2022) (slip op., at 1).