WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, citing religious liberty has lifted another of California’s COVID restrictions, holding the state may not prevent people from gathering in homes for Bible study and prayer meetings. The court issued a 5-4 order near midnight Friday barring the enforcement of a state restriction that was due to expire on Thursday. The court’s conservatives slammed the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals for what they called another “erroneous” decision in favor of the state. “This is the fifth time the court has summarily rejected the 9th Circuit’s analysis of California’s COVID restrictions on religious exercise,” they said in Tandon vs. Newsom. In the most significant of the rulings, the court in early February said churches in California may open for indoor worship services, so long as they enforced limits on how many people gathered together.