January 11, 2013
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute are asking the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to prohibit Texas school officials from removing high school sophomore Andrea Hernandez from her current academic program at John Jay Science & Engineering Academy pending the outcome of her case. Hernandez, a 15-year-old Texas public school student, was essentially expelled over her refusal to wear a chipless RFID tracking badge based on her sincere religious beliefs that it represents the “mark of the Beast.”
The Rutherford Institute has already appealed a January 8 ruling by U.S. District Judge Orlando L. Garcia for the Western District of Texas in San Antonio denying Hernandez’s request for a preliminary injunction on the grounds that the sophomore’s refusal to wear the chipless tracking badge is “not grounded in her religious beliefs” and is a “secular choice rather than a religious concern.” The badges, part of John Jay High School’s “Student Locator Project,” include tiny chips that produce a radio signal, enabling school officials to track students’ location on school property. In coming to Andrea’s defense, Rutherford attorneys have alleged that the school’s attempts to penalize, discriminate and retaliate against Andrea violate her rights under Texas’ Religious Freedom Act and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
