More California Civil Disobedience Updates

I've noted previously the very poor reporting we've had on the legal issues surrounding the California churches that are holding services in violation of local health orders. In particular, the various decisions by the superior court, and a decision by the appeals court that appeared to "overturn" a superior court decision partially allowing Grace Community Church to hold indoor services, haven't been clearly explained.

A new post at the Thomas More Society website goes some distance toward clearing this up.

August 25, 2020, in California Superior Court, Judge Mitchell Beckloff issued a five-page opinion, County of Los Angeles et al. v. Grace Community Church et al., denying the County of Los Angeles’ renewed application for a temporary restraining order against the church and Pastor John MacArthur.

. . . the court held that the county’s attempt to obtain a restraining order did not meet statutory requirements and that the Court of Appeal’s order did not justify a new temporary restraining order; rather, it simply stayed Judge Chalfant’s August 14 order and gave the county permission to enforce its own health order.

I thought something like this would be the case. I went to the judge's opinion, which is on line here, and found a problem with the health department's ability to enforce its order, whether or not the appeals court gave it permission to do so:

The County health Order also requests "that the Sheriff and all chiefs of police in all cities located in the Los Angeles Public Health Jurisdiction ensure compliance with and enforcement of this Ordr."

This answers a question I've had all along: who enforces health department orders in California? It turns out it's the relevant sheriff or police department. But we've already seen that the Los Angeles police chief has told Pastor MacArthur that LAPD does not enforce health department orders and will not under any conceivable scenario move against Grace Church. (Note that the health department's own language "requests" sheriffs and police to enforce its orders.)

This is actually a problem throughout the state, as a number of county sheriffs have already announced they do not enforce health department orders, and, for instance, the Ventura County Sheriff has refused to make arrests or issue citations in the similar Godspeak Calvary Chapel case.

This brings us to a new civil disobedience case. I've seen remarks here and there from pastors that, although there are a few well-publicized cases, there are a good many other churches -- mostly Evangelical or Pentecostal -- that are quietly holding indoor Sunday services with singing and without social distance in violation of the governor's and local health department orders.

One of these, it now comes to light, is North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, 350 miles north of Los Angeles in Santa Clara, which is in Silicon Valley.

North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara is being punished for holding worship services, even though churchgoers adhered to the social distancing guidelines. The house of worship was even served a citation for singing.

The county placed a four-page letter on the front door of the church, indicating that singing at church services was "unlawful."

"North Valley Baptist is failing to prevent those attending, performing and speaking at North Valley Baptist's services from singing," the letter reads. "This activity is unlawful. The county understands that singing is an intimate and meaningful component of religious worship."

"However, public health experts have also determined that singing together in close proximity and without face coverings transmits virus particles further in the air than breathing or speaking quietly. The county demands that North Valley Baptist immediately cease the activities listed above and fully comply with the Risk Reduction Order, the Gatherings Directive, the State July 13 Order, and the State guidance. Failure to do so will result in enforcement action by the county," the notice concludes.

The "cease and desist order' appears to be consistent with the similar order issued against Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena. The question in my mind in both cases is how this health department order is enforced, and the answer I seem to get from the court document quoted above is that it's enforced via a "request" to the local sheriff or police department. But what we're seeing is that law enforcement has been reluctant to get involved.

What I think is happening is that both the courts and law enforcement are uncomfortable with enforcing health department orders, which are not laws passed by legislative authority, and are at least putatively temporary.

What pastors -- including North Valley Pastor Jack Trieber -- have said is that they closed their worship services in March in good-faith compliance, at a time when it was put about that there would be millions of COVID deaths in the US. When these did not materialize, civil authorities nevertheless did not relax their orders, and six months later, we're seeing churches penalized for holding indoor services and singing, when all available evidence shows this is not spreading the disease.