Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo
Case Overview
Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo (2020) held 5-4 in a per curiam emergency order that New York's COVID-19 executive order capping attendance at houses of worship at 10 or 25 persons per building violated the Free Exercise Clause because comparable secular businesses -- including essential businesses such as acupuncture facilities, hardware stores, and liquor stores -- were not subject to equivalent capacity restrictions. The decision -- the first major religious exercise ruling with Justice Barrett on the Court -- effectively extended Lukumi's neutrality requirement to pandemic restrictions.
The Facts
New York Governor Cuomo issued restrictions on gatherings in COVID 'red zones' that capped attendance at houses of worship at 10 per building (in red zones) or 25 (orange zones), regardless of building size. Comparable secular 'essential' businesses, including many retail stores, remained open without the same per-building caps. The Catholic Diocese and Agudath Israel of America challenged the restrictions as violating the Free Exercise Clause. The Second Circuit declined to enjoin the rules pending appeal.
The Application
The Court applied Lukumi's comparator framework to find that New York's restrictions failed the "generally applicable" prong of Smith: the per-building attendance caps imposed on houses of worship were substantially stricter than those applied to comparable secular businesses (grocery stores, hardware stores, liquor stores, and acupuncture facilities operating in the same zones), which operated without equivalent per-building limitations. Because the law treated religious and secular conduct disparately rather than neutrally, it triggered strict scrutiny review. Under that heightened standard, New York could not justify the substantial burden on religious exercise, particularly given that comparable secular businesses posed similar or greater COVID-19 transmission risks yet faced no comparable restrictions. The emergency order granted an injunction blocking enforcement of the capacity caps as applied to houses of worship.
The Conclusion
Emergency ruling issued November 2020 blocking New York's capacity limits on houses of worship. The decision marked a significant turn in COVID-era religious liberty cases - prior challenges involving churches had largely failed. The ruling relied on Lukumi's comparator analysis rather than requiring Smith to be overruled, and foreshadowed the majority's 6-3 Free Exercise approach in Tandon v. Newsom (2021) and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021).
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