A federal judge ruled against a group of New York event venues on Friday in their lawsuit against a state ban on nonessential gatherings of more than 50 people.

U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny in the Western District of New York denied a preliminary injunction in Luke’s Catering Service v. Cuomo, holding that the state is given the power to implement emergency protective steps that infringe on federal constitutional rights when confronted with a “society-threatening epidemic.”