California Drops $67K in Citation Fines Against Calvary Chapel San Jose
The church continues its fight against another $1.2 million in fines by the county.
Calvary Chapel San Jose and its school Calvary Christian Academy are no longer subject to $67,000 worth of citation fines issued against them by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal OSHA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Calvary Chapel San Jose / Photo via Google Photos
When it received complaints about children at the church school not wearing masks, the Cal OSHA conducted inspections, resulting in 15 citations totaling over $67,000, according to reporting by the Christian Post.
Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a California-based public interest law firm that defends constitutional liberties, represented the church and school against the state’s citations.
The law firm moved to suppress any evidence obtained under the warrant for additional inspections, claiming the warrant was not sufficiently specific as required by the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
When the Superior Court in California agreed with the legal argument, Cal OSHA withdrew the remaining citations.
Cal OSHA also agreed that the church had committed no wrongdoing during the COVID pandemic, nor did the church admit any fault.
“This is a complete victory, not only for Calvary Christian Academy, but for every church and Christian school in California,” said Vice President and Chief of Trial Litigation Joel Oster with Advocates for Faith & Freedom. “The State tried to use OSHA as a weapon to intimidate a religious institution. They failed. And they were forced to walk away from their own claims.”
Calvary Chapel San Jose is also involved in a case involving fines of $1.2 million levied against it for violating California’s COVID-19 mask rules from November 2020 to June 2021.
The church continued its worship services and declined to enforce mask mandates during the period, so Santa Clara County responded with escalating fines.
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In April, an appellate court upheld the fines. Calvary Chapel San Jose petitioned the California Supreme Court in June to overturn the enormous fines.
According to the Advocates for Faith & Freedom, the petition argues that while Santa Clara County permitted secular activities, it singled out religious gatherings for punishment, in violation of the Free Exercise Clause. It also argues that the fines are unconstitutional in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of excessive fines.
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