A Federal Court in California has approved a settlement of a religious freedom lawsuit on behalf of a church and its related ministry against Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-California).

The implication of the settlement is that it is the first statewide and permanent injunction in the country against COVID-19 restrictions on churches and places of worship.

It is also the first time a governor will have a permanent injunction against him on behalf of houses of worship.

In addition to easing statewide restrictions that pertain to religious gatherings, California will now also pay $1.35 million to compensate the legal group that filed and won the lawsuit.

In California churches and other place of worship were fined over $3 million. Due to the injunction those fines will now all be revoked.

On May 14, the Honorable Jesus G. Bernal wrote in part: “[C]hurches and places of worship may never again have discriminatory restrictions placed on them that are not equally applied to a long list of ‘critical infrastructure’ or ‘essential services’ as outlined in several Supreme Court precedents cited in the settlement agreement.”

The judge’s order further clarified that it did “not prohibit the State from issuing recommendations, best practices, precautions, or other measures, as long as such promulgations make clear to the public that they are voluntary and not enforceable.”