In a closely watched case, a federal judge today ruled against a high school sophomore who refused to wear a student ID embedded with a radio frequency chip that tracks students’ movement on campus.
The teenager, Andrea Hernandez, and her father, Steven Hernandez, sued a San Antonio school district on primarily religious grounds for forcing her to wear a chip they considered a symbol of Satan or “mark of the Beast” warned of in biblical scripture. The Christian teen maintained wearing the Smart ID amounted to accepting a secular ruling authority in order to obtain certain privileges, which equates to submitting to a false god.
The Northside Independent School District offered to issue Hernandez an ID without the electronic tracking, but the student again refused.
“By asking my daughter and our family to participate and fall in line like the rest of them is asking us to disobey our Lord and Savior,” the father wrote to district officials, according to a court document.
After the second refusal, school officials told the student she would need to transfer out of the science and mathematics magnet school she attends into another public school that does not require the RFID badges. She and her father then sought a preliminary injunction to stop the school transfer.
The Virginia-based civil rights group Rutherford Institute took up the case and had the backing of civil rights groups and the hacker collective Anonymous. Rutherford Institute lawyers claimed the school’s actions violated the 15-year-old’s right to religious freedom.
But on Tuesday U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled in favor of the transfer, saying the student’s refusal to wear the badge even without the tracking chip undermined those religious convictions.
“Plaintiff’s objection to wearing the Smart ID badge without a chip is clearly a secular choice, rather than a religious concern,” the judge wrote in a 25-page ruling.
Garcia also disagreed with the argument Hernandez’s constitutional right to free speech was violated.
“Although students in public schools ‘do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoothouse gate,’ the First Amendment rights of public school students ‘are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings’ and must be “applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment,” he wrote.
The school district adopted the RFID technology this school year in large part to prevent underreported attendance numbers and secure up to $1.7 million in state funding. It also adds a layer of safety during campus evacuations by alerting officials to the location of all students, including those that may need assistance during an emergency or disaster.
From its inception, the “Student Locator Program” has raised privacy concerns in San Antonio and other school districts nationwide, where electronic tracking devices have been implemented in pilot programs or sometimes scrapped because of parental uproar.
“Today’s court ruling affirms NISD’s position that we did make a reasonable accommodation,” the district said in an emailed statement sent to the San Antonio News. “The family now has the choice to accept the accommodation and stay at the magnet program, or return to her home campus.”
The Rutherford Institute said in a statement it plans to appeal Garcia’s decision.
“The Supreme Court has made clear that government officials may not scrutinize or question the validity of an individual’s religious beliefs,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, in a statement. “By declaring Andrea Hernandez’s objections to be a secular choice and not grounded in her religious beliefs, the district court is placing itself as an arbiter of what is and is not religious. This is simply not permissible under our constitutional scheme, and we plan to appeal this immediately.”
Couldn’t fight this on a constitutional level? Noooo. Had to trot out the crack pot religious theory.
She has a right to choose her battle, she does not have a right to determine the consequence.
To simply say that “I am a religious person therefore I don’t have to adhere to your demands but rather you have to adhere to mine” is not a wise position to take. It is, in my opinion, an indicator of a rather poorly functioning intellectual capability.
If this person refuses to wear the ID badge with the RFID tag removed becuase it “shows support” for the system that she believes infringes on her religious rights, then on that basis, would not the attendance of this school show support for the “mark of the beast” system as well?
It’s about ‘freedoms’. Freedom to choose, freedom to speak, freedom to ‘breathe.’
We became ‘slaves’ when the government became corrupt. It started with your SSN or SIN.
These were ‘identifying numbers to be tracked as debtpayers for the bankrupt US of A. Each one of us is collateral for the debt.
The RFID chip will be used, not only for healthcare, but their future use will also include your earnings and government handouts being put onto this chip. If you go against government, then your chip will be wiped clean. It is also a ‘tracking’ device. They will find you no matter ‘where you go.’
I would simply ‘homeschool’ my child till this blows over. It will
Corruption is now being fought. Bankers are resigning or getting arrested. It’s just a matter of time. Hang in. Freedom is coming.
Peace!
See I would take her side, except I agree with the judge. Once she refused the ID WITHOUT the RFID tag, she made the case about something else entirely.
They are forgetting to mention that in order to accept the chipless ID, they would also have to make a verbal statment of support for the system. If it was just she had to carrier ID while in school, I would not support her, but to force her to make a statement of support for a system she does not agree with, is wrong.
It just seems as if they are saying “you are government property, you have no choice” – even if they had fought based on first, fourth, or any other amendment in the constitution, the only amendments that are not consistently violated and infringed upon are women’s right to vote (in elections, not anything else – even their own bodies) and that “blacks” are “people” too (albeit only 3/5 at first). I guess the constitution does npt apply to this country, Omerica: land of the freeking idiots.
I think it is simply a matter of respect. The school doesn’t have the right to force a student to wear a badge, and a student doesn’t have the right to force a school to do what the student wants. In the end its a choice. if you dont like the having to eat apples in a food shop, go to one that doesn’t require you to eat apples. To force a shop to bend to your rules because you want to go to it is just the same as a shop forcing you to eat apples.
The student has no right to force a school to be the way it wants and neither does a school have the right to force a student.
Its simple. Go to another place !
The schools reason for doing this in the first place sounds bogus. They want to count the number of kids who are present so they can get all the money they are entitled to? That’s why they take attendance in home-room. No need for micro-chips to do that.
It sounds like the school wanted a way to track kids movements without coming right out and saying so.
But you also gotta wonder why the student didn’t just accept the ID without the tracking included?
‘The school district adopted the RFID technology this school year in large part to prevent underreported attendance numbers and secure up to $1.7 million in state funding. It also adds a layer of safety during campus evacuations by alerting officials to the location of all students, including those that may need assistance during an emergency or disaster.’
And if you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you may be interested in buying.
Freedom is NOT coming as long as O’Bama is in power.
So is the impending war!
Exactly what I was thinking. Once she went from not wearing the badge with the RFID to refusing to wear any sort of badge at all, she negated her argument of the RFID being the “mark of the beast” and claiming religious exemption.
There are SO many things in life we do that using her logic would be construed as supporting the viewpoint. What about living in a state that allows gay marriage? Her logic would follow that living in that state is condoning and supporting their stance on gay marriage. EVERY state has laws and regulations that are offensive to one group or another, but I don’t think anyone makes that logical leap.
Nowhere in this article did I read that she had to make a verbal statement supporting the use of the RFID chips. Where did you get that information?
The only thing remotely supporting your statement was the father’s statement, but that’s his opinion of what her wearing the RFID badge would constitute, not anything the school was telling her she had to say.
Where did you get that information? Nowhere in this article did I see that the school was requiring her to make any such statement.
Wow! What you wrote is nuts! I hope you don’t actually have children, or at the very least do NOT homeschool them. I worry about America’s future with voices like yours around…
I agree that the Constitutional level would have been best on so many levels. However freedom of religion is guaranteed under that same document. So many Christians do believe that a “NUMBER” , (666) is the mark of the beast, hence religious objection against use of any displayed number does far precede the use of this tag. Under religious rights, this a violation, under many other Constitutional Rights this is also a violation. I go with hitting with all ya got in these manners, so more arguments should have been made.
In the meanwhile she can wrap it with supercrank aluminum foil so rfid does not work and numbers can’t be seen, then it can be taken to court again. Please remember = TEXAS, home of WACO and a state of mind that employs citizens to “mess with themselves”. If only Jan Brewer Governor of Arizona would carry through with her threat to invade Texas using the Arizona Military (militia), Texas has sucked so many federal tax dollars from the pots of other states non propotionate to it’s massive size, she may have a point. Irony of this whole thing is that all involved from Texas to Church are tied in as Reublicans. Don’t tell me that school didn’t know what they were messing with, I smell a skunk. (666)
Scientific data; Look up the number 6,6,6, on an Atomic Numbers Chart. You come up with the 6th symbol; CARBON, 6 electrons, & so on. It’s makeup is a Hexagon, 6 points as well as a religious symbol. Carbon is the basis for life on Earth, & hence irronically 666 really is the mark of all beasts on Earth. Truth is stranger than fiction.
I’ve seen that Bridge, lot’s of steel. Price of steel being what it is, how much do you want?
Sorry I don’t believe that other stuff from Texas.
Home schooling was good enough for many of our founding fathers. In the 60′s many dropped out of society & refused to contribute to a nation that was doing ungodly things in the name of the people. Many left and went to other countries including Canada. To stand up for your beliefs, that is the mark of a real American! To conform is an act of a weakling that has never had any ethics, and is not willing to suffer for the greater good. I worry about America’s future like yours around… I’d rather be called a nut than a monster.
The number IS the bigger issue, RFID is just the current rage, showing an ID openly is a crime against the privacy of an American. We are to be secure in our persons, homes, and possesions without invasion unless a warrant has been issued.
Wow! I just read your ill-informed observation regarding the decision to “Home School” a child; it is both frightening and NOT supported by the facts. For those of us who understand (SAT,CAT) & other Standardized Testing results, know the data clearly shows a vast majority of students Home Schooled outperform students educated in Public Schools.(With the exception of ‘Cherry-Picked students’ attending certain “Magnet Schools”), the public education system is just what it was originally created to be, an educational safety net of BASIC education in Secularism NOT the Platinum Standard or the Alpha and Omega of Primary and Secondary Education for ALL! Oh, by the way what do you think about Mandatory Genetic screening prior to permitting procreation? Now, that IS something YOU should worry about!
P.S. I raised 3 sons who never attended a Public School prior to College, all three swam AAU competition for 8-10 yrs, played Baseball from T-Ball to Sr.League and Soccor from age 5 to 15. Now in their 20′s and without arrest records! One is career Army (Airborne Combat Medic) One is second year Law School, and the youngest is a Criminal Justice major.
SOLID EDUCATION CAN BE DONE WITHOUT THE SECULARISTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!
GOD BLESS AMERICA, DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION AND PROTECT ALL OF OUR FREEDOMS!