WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — A Christian church in California that was ordered to pay $1.2 million in fines for refusing to enforce local mask mandates as it continued to hold services in 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 outbreak has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s ruling.  

“This case stands as one of the clearest examples of government overreach against a church in modern American history,” declared Advocates for Faith & Freedom, the attorney group that has long represented Calvary Chapel in San Jose (CCSJ), California, and its Pastor Mike McClure, in a statement shared with LifeSiteNews. 

Advocates for Faith & Freedom (AFF) is now working in partnership with the American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ) in D.C. to petition the Supreme Court. 

CCSJ began to openly defy its Silicon Valley county’s harsh lockdown rules after an initial two months of compliance in 2020, recognizing the serious spiritual needs of their congregants to return to worship and community. 

“God doesn’t want us to isolate ourselves,” Pastor McClure said in a sermon upon the church’s reopening. “All of us need to be in the sanctuary. I don’t care what they say, I’m never again going to close the doors, ever.” 

The church welcomed back its members and refused to enforce the public health mandates, saying they were unconstitutional. In consequence, the church saw not only the return of its congregation, but a substantial influx of new attendees as well.

“Government officials may not weaponize emergencies to suspend the First Amendment,” said Erin Mersino, vice president and chief of Supreme Court and appellate litigation for AFF. “California imposed some of the most aggressive restrictions on churches in the country, and this case is about ensuring the government never does this again.”

“Freedom means nothing if the government can fine churches into submission,” said Joel Oster, vice president and chief of trial litigation for AFF. “If local officials can impose crushing penalties until churches surrender their constitutional rights, then those rights do not exist in any meaningful way.”

“During COVID, California forced churches to close, restrict worship, and enforce mandates that violated Calvary Chapel’s sincerely held beliefs. At the very same time, the state allowed widespread exemptions for secular operations such as restaurants, athletic programs, and government offices,” explained the church’s attorneys. 

“Calvary Chapel chose obedience to Scripture over obedience to shifting political orders,” they noted. “The county retaliated with rapidly escalating fines that soared to $5,000 per day, ultimately exceeding $1.2 million, along with coercive demands for sworn compliance with orders later deemed unconstitutional.”

After the Court of Appeal denied the CCSJ’s request for a rehearing, and the Supreme Court of California declined to review the case, AFF asked ACLJ Chief Counsel Jay Sekulow for help in taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The ACLJ agreed, and on December 12, 2025, along AFF as co-counsel, ACLJ filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the highest court in the land. 

The petition asks the Supreme Court to resolve four pressing constitutional issues:

• Whether government may dictate the internal practices of worship;
• Whether restrictions with secular exemptions must face strict scrutiny;
• Whether massive financial penalties for worship violate the First Amendment;  
• Whether the Excessive Fines Clause protects churches from multi-million-dollar punishment.

The Supreme Court is likely to announce sometime in spring 2026 whether it will hear the case of Calvary Chapel San Jose v. California.