During the Covid-19 Pandemic, local, state, and federal government agencies embarked on a major campaign to undermine the constitutional rights of American citizens, including people of faith. Pronounced among this constitutional wreckage is Calvary Chapel San Jose, which currently faces $1.2 million in COVID-19 fines (initially it was $3.87 million) after being targeted by an invasive and warrantless government geofencing operation.
Geofencing is a location-based tool used by the government to track individuals through their cell phone data. This tool is typically used in police investigations of criminal activity and requires the government to request a warrant – which is limited in time and scope.
The County of Santa Clara used this tool against Calvary Chapel San Jose under the auspices of researching what they term “super spreading” (despite the fact that the county cannot trace one confirmed COVID-19 case to this church) and is now using it against them in their on-going attempt to collect fines from the church. This geofencing operation, which effectively amounts to a targeted sting operation by the government against churchgoers who were not suspected of any crime, took place over the course of two years with seemingly no oversight, boundaries, or limitations.
This obvious invasion of privacy and targeting is not only a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but also represents a terrifying precedent if allowed to go unaddressed: as it stands, the County of Santa Clara is effectively arguing that, as long as they call it research, any level of government can target and spy on any individual or group for any reason at any time for any duration, and, if they so choose, they can then wield the collected data against said individuals or group. This is not just un-American; it’s downright Orwellian.
The Fourth Amendment states that the government must have a warrant for searches and seizures to protect the privacy and property of American citizens, and stringent criteria must be met, as determined by a judge, in order for this warrant to be granted. Warrantless fishing expeditions, especially geared at enforcing where, when, and in what manner individuals exercise and express their faith and beliefs, is not within in the purview of any level of government and is a practice counter to the foundational concepts upon which our Nation was built.
All Americans should be paying attention to Calvary Chapel San Jose’s case: your rights and liberties depend on this case and the precedents that are set here. We must understand that growing technological capabilities do not necessitate a limiting of our personal freedoms. While tools like geofencing can be effective in criminal investigations with the proper warrants and parameters, the implementation of expansive geofencing operations against churchgoers is more reflective of the Chinese Communist Party’s use of technology to enforce “social credit scores” in China. In the United States, the purpose of the government is to secure and protect the unalienable rights of the people. It is not to spy on American citizens to enforce its own political and social agendas.
If a California county can spy on a church in this way without limitation, what is to stop the federal government from weaponizing the Department of Justice in the same way against whatever political organization, rally, or candidate that is not currently in power? Should local or state governments be able to surveil gun clubs and gun stores in the name of research to collect data on law-abiding gun owners? This, again, is a dangerous precedent.
Americans should be upset and concerned about the lengths to which government officials are willing to go to violate the rights and liberties they’ve taken oaths to uphold.
Our organization, on behalf of churches and Americans whose rights are being violated across the country and to curb our government’s capacity to continue this type of egregious overstepping. Instead of targeting churchgoers across the country, our government should have focused its efforts on protecting our rights during a national emergency, not diminishing them.
When another global emergency happens, and when Americans need faith the most, we will make sure the government does not interfere with Americans’ ability to worship in fellowship.
Mariah Gondeiro is Vice President & Legal Counsel for Advocates for Faith and Freedom.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.