- And here with us nowis Christopher Ferrara,

a Thomas More Society lawyer working

to allow churches to reopen.

Christopher, thanks for beingwith us on Faith Nation today.

The judge here in thiscase is Gary Sharpe.

I take it he was pretty critical

of Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.

- Well, I think the court had to be

because the position wasessentially indefensible.

There was a vast networkof regulations governing

capacity limitations of variousbusinesses and entities.

And I look at it as akind of inverted pyramid.

At the very bottom of the inverted pyramid

all alone in the 25%indoor occupancy limitation

was religion, just religion, nothing else.

Now on the eve of the judge's ruling,

I understand that the governorhas leapfroged religion

into phase four throughout the state,

but even in phase four,religion and religion only

is at 33% indoor occupancy.

Whereas the judge's ruling issued today

says essentially this,that religious gatherings,

like other businessgatherings are entitled

to a 50% occupancy limitation.

There's no rational basisto distinguish, for example,

restaurants at 50% capacity

from a house of worship at 50% capacity.

So he held that the regulationof capacity limitations

was not generally applicable.

He reserved the question asto whether it was neutral

on its face, but found that it definitely

was not being applied ina generally applicable way

and that religion had been singled out

as an especially strictgathering limitation indoors.

And as to the outdoor gatherings,

he said that these areessentially gone now

with the massive exception allowed

for protests of unlimited numbers.

So he held that outdoor gatherings

cannot be limited as to our clients.

They need only practice thesocial distancing guidelines

for outdoor gatherings,

but there's no longer astrict numerical limitation

to 25 people in the NorthCountry, for example,

or 10 people, which was applicable

in the lower half of the state,especially in New York City.

That's gone now because theyhave a effectively abolished

that whole framework by allowing

these massive demonstrations,

and they should allow demonstrations.

They're First Amendmentprotected activity.

It's not even just the demonstrations.

It's also celebrations ofJuneteenth, for example,

thousands were demonstratingand celebrating

for the Juneteenth celebrationon the 19th of June.

Essentially New York is nowjust filled with gatherings

and celebrations of all kinds.

So that outdoor gathering limitation

is essentially history at this point.

- Just a few seconds left here, but what's

the immediate effect ofthis judge's ruling today?

- Well, the immediate effectas to these plaintiffs

is that they're relieved

of these indoor restrictions at 25%.

The restriction should be 50%as with comparable businesses

and they're relieved of anyoutdoor gathering limitations.

There is no outdoor gatheringlimitation any longer.

They need only practice social distancing.

- Out of time, we're gonna have to go.

I'm so sorry.- That's okay.

- Thanks for being with us today.

- Thanks, Christopher.

- [John] Coming up, thefastest two minutes in sports,

making up for a delayed start.

That story when we come back.

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- Finally, tonight, goodthings come to those who wait.

Ticket holders for May's Kentucky Derby

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