When other churches in the Bay Area agreed to meet outside or close their doors altogether, Calvary Chapel San Jose kept their doors open, ignored social distancing suggestions, and did not require congregants to wear masks.
Brad Dacus of the non-profit Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), who is not representing the church, says the mandates were unconstitutional, even during the pandemic. Additionally, none of them did anything to stop or slow the spread of COVID and have since been found to be arbitrary or simply made up.
But that did not stop Santa Clara County from slapping the church with $1.2 million in fines.
"They have heavy fines against them for their refusal to meet outdoors, instead meet indoors, and not comply with all the mandates that we now know are actually irrelevant and were not effective," Dacus summarizes.
An April 15 appeals court decision upheld an earlier ruling against the church, but Calvary Chapel has decided to continue its legal fight against the fines.
"Significantly, it is undisputed that Calvary Chapel intentionally and repeatedly failed to comply with any of the public health orders requiring face coverings to be worn during its indoor church services and other indoor activities," read the ruling.
"Calvary Chapel was aware that some of its congregants had contracted COVID-19 and its school had sustained a serious outbreak, and that the County issued the public health orders requiring face coverings in certain circumstances as part of the County's effort to slow the spread of COVID-19. We therefore determine that the undisputed facts show that Calvary Chapel's level of culpability due to violating the public health orders requiring face coverings is high."
Attorneys for the church maintain that the fines are based on a notice of violation that was "void on its face" – an an argument ignored by the court of appeal in the April 15 decision.
Dacus says the determination to collect the $1,228,700 is personal for the California government.
"The state of California, and in particular Governor Gavin Newsom (D), has shown clear hostility to religion generally, and specifically churches," the PJI president accounts.
Thought it is a state case that deals with the county government, he predicts Calvary Chapel will appeal the fines all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.
A motion for panel rehearing has already been filed, and an eventual appeal to the California Supreme Court is already in the works.
