SANTA CLARA COUNTY — In a victory for a San Jose church who brazenly flouted COVID guidelines on the peak of the pandemic, the California Supreme Courtroom on Wednesday denied a petition by Santa Clara County asking that Calvary Chapel pay greater than 1 / 4 million dollars in courtroom charges.
“We really feel actually relieved,” stated Mariah Gondeiro, the legal professional representing Calvary Chapel.
Consequently, the church gained’t must fork over $217,500, which was beforehand determined by a Sixth District Courtroom of Attraction ruling issued over the summer time. In that call, the courtroom reversed the charges stemming from courtroom orders issued in December 2020 and February 2021 when Calvary Chapel brazenly defied the county’s public well being orders. Of their August ruling, the appellate courtroom cited a number of U.S. Supreme Courtroom selections final yr that favored non secular freedoms over public well being guidelines.
The state courtroom’s choice displays the broader reverberations of the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Courtroom on the nation’s authorized techniques.
“I feel we have now a really religious-friendly Supreme Courtroom,” stated Gondeiro, who works for the Southern California-based Advocates For Religion & Freedom. “And we’re beginning to see that trickle down throughout the nation. With regards to non secular freedoms, they know the place the Supreme Courtroom stands.”
Nevertheless, along with denying the county’s petition on Wednesday, the state’s excessive courtroom additionally decertified the August appellate ruling. That transfer successfully wipes away the Sixth District’s precedent and doesn’t permit future authorized challengers to make use of it. Santa Clara County’s Counsel James Williams considers Wednesday’s choice as each a partial loss and partial victory.
“I’m definitely disenchanted they didn’t overview the petition,” he admitted. “However in ordering the choice to be de-published, it will probably not be cited. It would not have an effect on rule of legislation. I feel the California Supreme Courtroom despatched that message.”
Through the first yr of the pandemic, the Santa Clara County Superior Courtroom granted the county a preliminary injunction in opposition to Calvary Chapel to cease holding indoor providers the place congregants had been singing and never carrying masks or following social distancing orders — all in violation of public well being necessities on the time. Calvary Chapel — a non-denominational Christian church with 3,000 congregants — ignored the injunction and was present in contempt of courtroom and fined a whole bunch of 1000's of dollars.
In its unanimous Aug. 15 ruling, the appeals courtroom sided with the church.
“From these selections, we perceive the U.S. Supreme Courtroom to carry that the place a pandemic-related public well being order prohibiting indoor gatherings has the impact of prohibiting indoor worship providers, the order just isn't impartial and of basic applicability if the general public well being order permits some other kind of indoor secular exercise, however that secular indoor gatherings are additionally banned,” Presiding Justice Mary Greenwood wrote in a 36-page opinion.
The excessive courtroom’s ruling on Wednesday bars any future authorized avenues for the county to drive the church to pay the contempt-of-court charges. The county had tried mentioning to the state Supreme Courtroom that the Sixth District had let Calvary Chapel fully off the hook by decoding a single one in every of its violations surrounding capability limits as unconstitutional. The church violated a number of public well being orders corresponding to mask-wearing, the county contended, and subsequently ought to nonetheless have been held liable for being in contempt of courtroom.
Regardless of the state Supreme Courtroom ruling, the church and county are nonetheless locked in a authorized battle that might take years to resolve, with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the road.
The combat started in the summertime of 2020 when Calvary Chapel sued in federal courtroom, claiming that native public well being orders had been violating its proper to carry church providers. That led the county to combat again by suing the church in state courtroom, saying they had been liable for $2.87 million in fines for violating public well being orders.
Either side have skilled victories and setbacks through the years, culminating in a deposition in August by Santa Clara County Well being Officer Dr. Sara Cody, a singular second with the choice making of one of many nation’s prime public well being officers below scrutiny. Hearings for each the state and federal instances will happen in January.