The United States Supreme Court was reported to have rejected the appeal of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church against the state of Illinois in line with Governor Jay Robert Pritzker for closing down churches during the pandemic.
According to the Christian Post (CP), the Supreme Court denied the church's petition for a writ of ceritiorari through an orders list released on Monday, March 29.
The orders list showed that Case No. 200-569 entitled "Elim Romanian Church, Et. Al. V. Pritzker, Gov. Of Il," was denied of the petition and even clarified that a "Justice Barrett" had no part in its decision.
As per CP, the "Justice Barrett" the orders list was referring to is "Justice Amy Coney Barrett." This is the same Justice Amy Coney Barrett nominated by former President Donald Trump into the Supreme Court last September, that NPR Illinois reported was due for her anti-abortion rights view and stand against the Affordable Care Act.
Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church Pastor Christian Ionescu was reported in May 2020 for applauding Trump's decision to call churches "essential" and directive to governors to reopen them. Ionescu praised the said efforts after suing the state of Illinois from receiving citations for violating stay-at-home orders, NBC Chicago said.
The said citation, as per CP, was sent by the Chicago Department of Public Health to Ionescu and appealed to him through a letter signed by its Commissioner Allison Arwady to "stop holding services that defy state orders."
"I appeal to you as a leader in your community and remain hopeful that you will work with me for the health, safety, and welfare of all Chicagoans. If you continue to operate in defiance of the Executive Order, the city will pursue all available legal remedies," the letter stated.
"Any future gatherings conducted contrary to the order will be considered a failure to abate and the city will take steps necessary to abate, including Summary Abatement," it added.
The Chicago Sun Times also reported that Pritzker was similarly sued by the Illinois Republican Party for his crowd restrictions during the pandemic that "violated the right of free exercise of religion" that Judge Barrett handled together with other judges. The said case was actually denied by Barrett on September.
In prior report from Chicago Sun Times, Ionescu explained that they held services not to rebel against the state but to exercise their constitutional rights to worship despite the pandemic. The Chicago Sun Times said Ionescu continued to "welcome dozens of worshippers to a Sunday service" despite local restrictions limiting to only 10.
The church asked for a temporary restraining order so that they would not face criminal repercussions for continuing their worship services "while vowing to impose strict social distancing measures".
Elim and the Logos Baptist Church were among the six Romanian-American Congregations present in Chicago who continued worship services on a Sunday.
"We feel that we are discriminated against. We follow the same rules as other places that are also considered essential, and yet we cannot have more than 10 people in a service, which is ridiculous," Ionescu told the Chicago Sun Times in an interview last May.
The church took to social media since May 31, 2020 to call for people to stand with Ionescu in line with their lawsuit.
