Yesterday, the Association of Jewish Camp Operators (AJCO) filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of New York against Democrat Governor Andrew Cuomo, after the governor decided not to allow sleepaway camps for the summer. Several parents joined the plaintiffs in the suit.
The New York Post reports that the AJCO is asking a judge to block the closures of camps because it violates freedom of religion and parents’ right to choose the “religious education and upbringing of their children.”
The suit continues that “[T]he need for Jewish overnight camps is particularly true this summer, after several months of shutdowns of the yeshiva schools, to provide for the structured Jewish learning and living offered by the Jewish overnight camps.”
It also makes clear the hypocrisy in allowing, and even encouraging, mass gatherings for the demonstrations that Cuomo seems to favor, such as the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests. The camp owners are not criticizing the protests, but are asking for the same treatment for camps, which the First Amendment obviously protects as well. They also argue that the camps have health protocols in order to make them safe regarding coronavirus spread.
You can read the lawsuit here.
