SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — A Ninth Circuit panel found Tuesday that a federal judge correctly tossed a church’s challenges to public health orders issued by California and Santa Clara County during the Covid-19 pandemic on constitutional grounds.
Three Ninth Circuit judges ruled Tuesday that the district court properly ducked involvement in a dispute from Calvary Chapel San José, which claimed that harsher restrictions were imposed on churches as compared to other institutions. The panel also dismissed Calvary Chapel's claims for injunctive and declaratory relief and stayed its claims for monetary relief.
The case stems from a pair of state and federal cases which began after Santa Clara County won an injunction ordering churchgoers to mask up during services during the Covid-19 pandemic. When they refused, a Santa Clara County judge found the churches in contempt and imposed fines which have accrued to $4.3 million.
Calvary Chapel San José and other churches have challenged the county’s Covid-19 policies and emergency orders meant to limit crowds at facilities like churches, restrict activities like singing and chanting and require face coverings in many areas.
Sara Cody, the county's public health director, instituted some of the most aggressive and restrictive responses to Covid-19 in the nation and said she was the first to recommend lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. The county was one of the last in California to rescind its indoor mask mandate, doing so almost three weeks after the state lifted its own.
In March 2023, a federal judge tossed the case and said she would abstain from further proceedings while the state case is underway. She ruled the state’s enforcement action on Covid-19 policies implicated important state interests and dismissed Calvary Chapel's case without prejudice.
But the church maintains that the emergency orders imposed harsher restrictions on churches than other institutions.
In a four-page order released Tuesday, the panel — composed of U.S. Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder, a Jimmy Carter appointee, with Clinton appointee U.S. Circuit Judge Susan Graber and Biden appointee U.S. Circuit Judge Jennifer Sung — agreed with the district court’s abstention, doing away with Calvary Chapel’s appeal of the dismissal of it retaliation claim for lack of jurisdiction.
The panel said that the state case’s proceedings implicated important state interests in public health and safety and provided an opportunity to present constitutional claims.
“Calvary did not meet its burden to show that they are procedurally barred from presenting those claims,” the judges said. “Indeed, Calvary actually presented constitutional defenses in state court.”
The judges said the federal court correctly determined that Calvary Chapel’s requested relief in the federal case would have the practical effect of blocking the state proceedings.
The plaintiffs' attorney Mariah Gondeiro, from the organization Advocates for Faith Freedom, said in a statement: "We plan to file a petition for rehearing. This is just a minor setback. We still have a long road ahead and believe in the end, we will prevail."
As for the church’s First Amendment retaliation claim, the federal judge ruled it is barred by the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which grants antitrust immunity to private parties petitioning the government to adopt rulings which could be anticompetitive.
The county counsel’s purported “retaliatory conduct" — informing Calvary Chapel’s lender of the county’s state enforcement lawsuit — was incidental to that lawsuit and thus protected, the panel said.
“As the county correctly points out, there is not yet a final judgment, so we lack appellate jurisdiction to review the interlocutory dismissal of the retaliation claim,” the panel wrote in the unanimous decision.
“The county is proud of its public health efforts to stem the Covid-19 pandemic and protect the health of its community,” said Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti. “While the local health mandates at issue in these lawsuits have long since been lifted, I am glad that the courts continue to uphold what was one of the most effective public health responses to Covid-19.”
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