- In New Jersey, COVID-19 shutdowns

sparked a federalreligious liberty lawsuit

against Governor Philip Murphy.

The Thomas More Societyhas sued Governor Murphy

on behalf of a Jewishrabbi and a Catholic priest

whose religious rights were violated

with the issuing of selective enforcement

of New Jersey's COVID-19stay-at-home orders.

Attorney Christoper Ferrerajoins us now with more.

Christopher, great to have on the show.

So give us here, realquickly, a little more detail

on what happened that led to this lawsuit

in the first place.

- Well what we have going on in New Jersey

is something that has never been seen

in the history of that state

or in the history of this country.

We have a governor who isliterally micromanaging

the lives of millions of people

with a series of executive orders

that govern when they may leave home,

where they may shop, whatbusinesses may operate,

what businesses may not operate,

and also tightly regulating divine worship

by strictly limiting the number of people

who can be involved inin-person worship services.

It is our position in this suit,

given the developments of recent days,

that the entire rationale forthis regime of restrictions

on millions of people collapsed

when Governor Murphy not onlyendorsed, but participated in,

mass marches in protest ofthe death of George Floyd,

undoubtedly the victimof police brutality.

Now that's a worthy First Amendment cause,

thousands marched for it,

and if thousands can marchfor it shoulder-to-shoulder

with the governor participating,

where is the threat of the virus, we ask.

There is no threat that would warrant

a continuation of this lockdown.

The problem we see now isthat we have a governor

who is adjusting his executive orders

to suit his value judgementsand prefaces of the moment,

or preferences of the moment.

So when he was called out

for having participatedin mass gatherings,

violating the rules that he lays down

for millions of others, heissued an executive order,

executive order 152,that suddenly declares

that everyone now hasFirst Amendment rights

in the state of New Jersey again

as far as outdoor gatherings go,

provided the gatheringsare for the purposes

of political protest or religion.

- Yeah and--- We find that very curious.

- Sure.

Christopher, let me just ask you this.

Where do things stand now

with the easing of these restrictions,

especially as the state enters phase two?

- Well, the way things stand now

is that indoor worshipservices are still restricted,

unfairly and unjustifiably,

to 25% of the capacity of the room

in which the service is conducted,

or 50 persons, whichever is less.

So theoretically, if youhave a very small room,

that would be one personrepresenting 25% of the capacity

or if you have a church that seats 1,000

you can only have 50people in that church.

Meanwhile, of course,businesses of all kinds,

accounting firms, law firms,manufacturing facilities,

favorite retail businesseswith staff in the facilities

have no such restrictions.

We're told now that indoor gatherings

can only occur if theyinvolve this magical number,

this limited number of 50 persons.

But what exactly distinguishesan indoor gathering

from an office gathering of,say, accountants or lawyers?

The scheme that this governor has imposed

on the state of New Jerseymakes less and less sense

as the days go by and we find

that the situation hasbecome simply intolerable.

There's no more justification.

- Mr. Ferrera, I'm going tohave to leave it right there.

We've run out of time.

Thank you so much for coming on the.