Religious Right Won Legal Battle Over COVID, Not the War

Few are likely to remember the year 2020 with much fondness. Within the church-state arena, however, the year 2020 has given rise to an unexpected windfall of legal victories -- at least for religious conservatives. Even as many realms of life were put on pause or otherwise restricted in response to the global pandemic, U.S. courts were kicked into high gear as they began to contend with a slew of COVID-related free exercise claims from religious communities across the nation. These claims have taken aim at the various measures adopted by state and local governments to curb the spread of the virus -- measures such as a California policy that placed stricter capacity restrictions on houses of worship than it did on grocery stores, or a Nevada policy that did the same with casinos