Suit was filed yesterday in a New York federal district court challenging New York COVID-19 orders that require Jewish overnight camps to remain closed this summer. The complaint (
full text) in
Association of Jewish Camp Operators v. Cuomo, (ND NY, filed 6/18/2020), alleges in part:
5. On June 12, 2020, Defendant announced that overnight camps would be closed for the summer of 2020 under his COVID-19 orders, without making any exceptions for Jewish overnight camps, notwithstanding that these overnight camps involve core religious exercise.
6. In contrast, Defendant has made a broad First Amendment exception from his COVID-19 orders for First Amendment activities that he favors. In particular, Defendant has created a de facto exemption from his COVID-19 orders for mass demonstrations ... even though these mass protests pose greater risks of the transmission of COVID-19 than do Jewish overnight camps.
7. Defendant also has allowed a wide array of similar, secular activities to remain open....
11. Defendant’s statewide closure of all Jewish overnight camps this summer violates Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights of the free exercise of religion and the fundamental rights of parents to control the religious education and upbringing of their children, guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution and Article III, § 3 of the New York Constitution.
[Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]
