Lodi church sues governor after police disrupt service

A Lodi church sued California officials in federal court arguing that mandatory suspension of its services violates the free exercise of religion and free assembly clauses of the First Amendment in the latest challenge to the governor's order halting religious gatherings.

The complaint filed Wednesday by Dean Broyles of the National Center For Law and Policy comes after police disrupted services in the church March 5 and notified pastor Jonathan Duncan he was subject to citation for defying the governor's decree against non-essential gatherings. On April 3, Duncan and his congregation were locked out of their leased church by their landlord.

In a similar case Wednesday, U.S. Judge Jesus G. Bernal of the Central District of California tentatively denied a temporary restraining order filed by a group of church pastors hoping to block what they argued is unequal and unconstitutional enforcement of the stay-at-home order.

Bernal sided with lawyers for Attorney General Xavier Becerra and Gov. Gavin Newsom, finding the state has executive authority to facilitate emergency remedies which could infringe on fundamental constitutional rights.

Broyles argued in his complaint, "Civil rights are not suspended by a virus. Fundamental and unalienable rights are, by their very nature, 'essential.' Yet the State of California has, in a sweeping abuse of its power, criminalized all religious assembly and communal religious worship while allowing citizens to gather at a liquor store, pot dispensary, Planned Parenthood, Walmart, CVS, Costco, Home Depot, and many other locations which are deemed 'essential.'"

"Generally courts that have considered the issue said that there isn't reason to allow these services unless it is provided in some drive-through fashion," said Eugene Volokh, a constitutional professor at UCLA School of Law. "If they really want to have in-building services I don't think they'll be able to do that," Volokh said. The discrimination on religious grounds argument would not work, Volokh said, due to the time worshipers typically need to spend in the same physical area."

The lawsuit asks the court to issue a preliminary injunction that would stop the city and police from halting future church services as long as those services abide by federal social distancing behaviors. Cross Culture Christian Center v. Gavin Newsom et al., 2:20-cv-00832-JAM-CKD (E.D. Cal. Filed April 22, 2020).

"The City of Lodi Police Department aggressively enforced the religiously intolerant and discriminatory state order and county orders," the complaint states. Advocates For Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit, is also representing the church through its attorney, Nada Higuera.