Justice Gorsuch Criticizes Continuation of Title 42 Restrictions, Uses Roman Catholic Diocese's Case to Illustrate Violating Americans' Freedom

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Due to the widespread COVID-19 pandemic, the limits imposed by Title 42, which prevent immigrants from entering another state, are currently being extended. On the other hand, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch voiced his disagreement with the decision made by the government, given that the covid emergency is expected to be lifted this month.

Criticism of Justice Neil Gorsuch

Justice Neil Gorsuch leveled severe criticism at how governments reacted to the most severe danger to public health in a century, from teeny-tiny communities to the country's capital. According to Fortune, the conservative justice, who is 55 years old and was President Donald Trump's first candidate for the Supreme Court, described the emergency measures that were implemented during the COVID-19 crisis, which resulted in the deaths of more than one million Americans, as possibly being "the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country."

He referred to regulations that prohibited evictions, shut down schools, limited services at churches, required vaccinations, and mandated vaccinations. His broadside was directed at municipal, state, and federal leaders and his fellow employees at his company. As mentioned, since the public health emergency proclaimed due to the coronavirus pandemic more than three years ago has already been lifted, the policy was discontinued at the beginning of this week. Gorsuch, who hails from Colorado and is an avid skier and cyclist, has been more inclined than most other justices on the Supreme Court to split company with his colleagues on the left and the right since the beginning of his time on the court in 2017.

During his six years on the court, he has consistently sided with the other conservative justices, eventually becoming part of the panel of judges that overturned Roe v. Wade and increased gun rights just one year ago. Moreover, Catholic News Agency reported that Gorsuch blasted the attempts of state governments to prolong Title 42, even though the COVID emergency will officially be over this month. Gorsuch needs to emphasize that he does not minimize the states' worries regarding the situation at the border; nonetheless, the current crisis at the border is not a COVID catastrophe. In addition, the decision made by the court in December 2022 to extend Title 42 was referred to as a "serious misstep" since it continued "an emergency decree designed for one crisis in order to address an entirely different one."

Gorsuch asserted that by extending Title 42, the Supreme Court had become involved in a massive "disruption" in "how our laws are made, and our freedoms are observed." This "disruption" had its genesis during the COVID outbreak. He also mentioned that the municipal and executive leaders around the country have, unchecked and, at times, even with the assistance of legislative and judicial authorities, attacked the fundamental liberties of their constituents in the United States. According to Gorsuch, federal executive powers also breached the fundamental liberties of American citizens. He used the case Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo as an illustration. In that case, a Catholic diocese filed a lawsuit against the then-governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, accusing him of discriminating against faith communities by enforcing particularly stringent regulations on attendance.

Also Read: United Church of Christ’s Annual Mission, ‘One Great Hour of Sharing’ Aims to Help More Than 25 Million Global Refugees

Borderline Issues

As per Cbp.gov, Central American families and children, some of whom did not have their parents with them, moved in the hundreds of thousands toward the southwest border. They were forced to do so by the possibility of violent acts and challenging economic conditions. They were also enticed to come by the promise of a decent job in an economy thriving in the United States. Accordingly, smugglers drew them with the false promise that they would be allowed to remain in the United States if they brought their children with them to the United States.

Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) law enforcement personnel arrested or have ruled inadmissible almost a million illegal immigrants entering the southwest border between October 2018 and September the fiscal year of the United States government, the greatest in nearly 15 years. CBP was tasked with addressing the humanitarian catastrophe while implementing hundreds of rules and regulations, keeping Americans safe by preventing the entry of hazardous drugs and criminals over the border and enabling legitimate trade and travel through 328 ports of entry in the United States.

Related Article: Title 42 Expired, Methodist Church in Texas Gets Ready for Thousands of Refugees Seeking Shelter