Give Me Liberty to Give You Death

 ("Thank You, Justice Gorsuch")

Religious freedom is not being abridged here. This is not a circumstance where one must practice beliefs in secret for fear of retribution from the state. Rather this is a weighing of the right of free association during a period of  national health emergency against the damage to the public that is likely to occur from said association.

We know that any prolonged exposure to others indoors creates a statistical probability that Covid 19 will be exponentially more likely to spread. Mr. Stephens and Justice Gorsuch would ignore that reality in finding no distinction between a quick trip to a liquor store and a seat at a Sunday service.

There are in fact inconvenient truths here that do not play well with the one size fits all logic of the Justice. This is not an act of trampelling upon a fundamental right but of allowing those professionals we must rely on in times of crisis to perform their duties unencumbered by constraints that would unnecessarily tie their hands behind their backs and imperil the health and well bring of those they are called upon to protect. Their line in the sand is neither arbitrary nor capricious, but directed at the clear distinguishing fingerprints of the moment.

"Give me liberty or give me death" is not, despite the protests of five members of the Supreme Court, the operative phrase herein. Rather, it is "give me liberty to give you death." And that, no matter how hard one may argue, is not a founding principle of this nation.