Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 pandemic orders are holding up in court

State and federal courts have thus far reinforced California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pandemic emergency authority, according to a review of the cases by The Sacramento Bee.

Newsom has faced multiple legal challenges since he enacted a statewide stay-at-home order on March 19.

Lawsuits have challenged Newsom’s authority to close churches to regular in-person gatherings, to issue financial assistance to unemployed undocumented immigrants and to close the Capitol to large-scale protests.

In each instance, the courts have sided with the governor.

Many of the lawsuits against Newsom come from the Center for American Liberty, a group helmed by conservative attorney and Republican Party official Harmeet Dhillon.

Churches sue to reopen

One of the earliest lawsuits against Newsom was one filed by Dhillon’s group on behalf of a group of pastors, and one parishioner, who sought to contest the governor’s authority to require that church services be limited to a drive-in capacity.

That suit ended up before U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal, who concluded that “the orders…do not represent a plain or palpable invasion on the general right to free exercise of religion” because people can practice their religion however they like in their own homes, according to a statement from the Center for American Liberty.

“We respectfully disagree with Judge Bernal’s decision,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Our clients are asking to be held to the same social distancing standards as liquor stores, marijuana dispensaries, laundromats, and other secular entities. For people of faith, their faith is as essential, if not more so, as food and other activities or services deemed essential by the state.”

Newsom faces a similar lawsuit, this one from a church in Lodi, that is ongoing in the court system.

Money for the undocumented

Newsom’s plan to give partially philanthropy-funded unemployment assistance to undocumented immigrants affected by the COVID-19 emergency also met legal resistance from Dhillon’s group.

This lawsuit, filed on behalf of two political candidates, accused the governor of exceeding his legal authority by parceling out $75 million in state funds to regional nonprofits, which in turn were to distribute the money, in the form of $500 checks, to qualifying undocumented immigrants.

This lawsuit, which went before the California Supreme Court, also was rejected, as was a similar lawsuit that went before the Los Angeles County Superior Court, according to the Associated Press.

The right to protest

The latest lawsuit from Dhillon’s group was on behalf of an employee of a Sacramento gun store and a Republican congressional candidate, both of whom had applications for protest permits rejected by the California Highway Patrol, following a raucous April 20 protest that saw many people neither wearing masks nor observing physical distancing.

The lawsuit sought to overturn the CHP’s temporary ban on protesting at the Capitol.

U.S. District Judge John Mendez declined to strike down the ban, citing a 1905 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that held that a community has the right to protect itself against a disease epidemic.

This story was originally published May 12, 2020 at 2:56 PM.