ADVOCATES FOR FAITH & FREEDOM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: thursday, november 6, 2025
CONTACT: NICOLE VELASCO
media@FAITH-FREEDOM.COM
Murrieta, CA —Advocates for Faith & Freedom (AFF) has joined forces with the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) to defend Calvary Chapel San Jose and Pastor Mike McClure in a landmark religious liberty case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The church faces more than $1.2 million in fines after continuing to worship during California’s COVID-19 restrictions.
In 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom and Santa Clara County imposed sweeping public-health orders that severely restricted religious gatherings, while granting broad exemptions for secular activities, including construction sites, restaurants, athletic programs, personal-care services, and government operations.
Calvary Chapel continued worship services and declined to enforce mask mandates that violated its sincerely held religious convictions. The county responded with rapidly escalating fines, doubling daily up to $5,000 per day, and demanded church leaders sign sworn statements promising compliance with orders later ruled unconstitutional.
“Government officials cannot weaponize emergencies to suspend constitutional rights,” said Erin Mersino, Vice President & Chief of Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation for AFF. “This case represents one of the most aggressive attacks on church autonomy and religious liberty in recent history. The Constitution does not evaporate in a crisis.”
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held, including in Tandon v. Newsom, that religious gatherings cannot be treated worse than comparable secular activities. The government’s selective exemptions for favored industries while crushing churches with fines violates this standard.
“Churches were punished while secular entities operated freely,” said Joel Oster, Vice President and Chief of Trial Litigation for AFF. “If government can impose crushing penalties until churches surrender constitutional freedoms, then those freedoms are meaningless.”
Though COVID restrictions have ended, the legal precedent would allow similar government overreach in future emergencies. Advocates for Faith & Freedom and ACLJ will file their petition for certiorari in the coming weeks.
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Advocates for Faith & Freedom is a non-profit law firm dedicated to protecting constitutional and religious liberty in the courts. Our mission is to engage in cases that will uphold our religious liberty and America’s heritage and to educate Americans about our fundamental constitutional rights.