Federal Court Rules Parts of Utah’s Anti-Polygamy Law Unconstitutional
This past Friday the 13th, the Federal District Court for the District of Utah ruled that parts of Utah’s anti-polygamy law are unconstitutional as violations of the United States Constitution’s free...
View ArticleRecord RLUIPA Settlement of $6.5 Million in Fortress Bible Case
In what appears to be the largest amount ever paid to settle RLUIPA litigation, the Town of Greenburgh, New York has agreed to pay Fortress Bible Church (“Church”) $6.5 million to resolve its claims...
View ArticleHarvest Covenant Church Settles RLUIPA Suit Against City of Milwaukee
After more than a year of litigation, Harvest Covenant Church (“Harvest”) and the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (“City”) have settled Harvest’s lawsuit alleging that the City’s zoning code and its...
View ArticleFederal Court Approves Settlement of RLUIPA Suit Involving Church Using...
A little over a year ago, we reported on the case involving the O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal Church (UDV), which sought to build an 11,000 square foot temple on 2.5 acres of land...
View ArticleNew Jersey Town Amends Zoning Ordinance In Wake Of Court’s Ruling That...
We previously reported on the case Chai Center for Living Judaism, Inc. v. The Zoning Board of Adjustment for the Township of Millburn, No. ESX-L-9244-11 (New Jersey Superior Court 2013), in which the...
View ArticlePresident Obama Celebrates National Religious Freedom Day
President Obama celebrated National Religious Freedom Day (January 16, if any of you missed it) by issuing a proclamation to commemorate the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which was adopted by...
View ArticlePetition for Certiorari to United States Supreme Court Raises RLUIPA and...
A group of citizens in Murfreesboro, Tennessee have filed a petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court challenging the 2013 ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals that the...
View ArticleMichigan Federal Court Dismisses Alger Bible Baptist Church’s RLUIPA Suit
In an important decision for municipalities across the country, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has ruled that excluding religious institutions from certain zoning...
View ArticleDallas Rabbi Using Home As Synagogue Uses The Religious Land Use And...
David Schneider, a Dallas resident, has filed a lawsuit against his neighbor, Rabbi Yaakov Rich, for using his 3,700 square foot home as an Orthodox synagogue known as Congregation Toras Chaim in what...
View ArticleMixed Use Meets RLUIPA: A Combination Church/Music Venue/Tattoo Parlor In...
In a controversial proposal, the Relevant Authentic Worship Church (RAW Church) in Crown Point, Indiana has obtained a variance to operate a church, music venue, and tattoo parlor in an industrial...
View ArticleEleventh Circuit Dismisses RLUIPA Suit After Mosque Settles Dispute With City...
The United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division reports the following in its February 2014 edition of Religious Freedom in Focus.On December 30, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the...
View ArticleNew RLUIPA Suit: River Hills Community Church of Sauk Prairie, Inc. v....
River Hills Community Church of Sauk Prairie, Inc. (Church) has sued the Village of Sauk City, Wisconsin (City) under RLUIPA, the U.S. Constitution, and state law concerning the City’s refusal to...
View ArticleUnited States Supreme Court to Hear RLUIPA Case Involving Prisoner’s Request...
Although not a land use case, a pending prisoner’s RLUIPA claim bears following because it may ultimately shed some light on how the U.S. Supreme Court interprets “compelling interest” and “least...
View ArticleReligious Group Seeking Year-Round Bible Camp Petitions United States Supreme...
We previously reported on the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Eagle Cove Camp & Conference Center v. Town of Woodboro, Wisconsin (7th Cir. 2013) in which plaintiff Eagle Cove sought to construct a...
View ArticleCity’s Prohibition of Donation Bins Prompts Constitutional Lawsuit
The City of St. Johns, Michigan is facing a lawsuit – Planet Aid v. City of St. Johns, Michigan, Docket No. 1:14-cv-00149 (W.D. Mich. 2014) – as a result of an amendment to its zoning ordinance to...
View ArticleCity Council Members in Des Plaines, Illinois Immune from Islamic...
In an important decision for municipal officials across the country, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, in American Islamic Center v. City of Des Plaines, No....
View ArticleSecond Circuit: New York City Board of Education Can Refuse to Allow...
In a potentially significant decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in The Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of The City of New York, No. 12-2730-cv (2d Cir. 2014),...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court Mulls Petition for Certiorari Involving RLUIPA Land Use Case
The United States Supreme Court has never granted certiorari in a Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) case involving land use. But might it now? Eagle Cove Camp &...
View ArticleTexas Court Rules Against Homeowners’ Association Seeking To Enjoin Rabbi...
Updating our previous post, a Texas court, in Schneider v. Gothelf, No. 429-04998-2013-00 (Collin Co. TX Dist. Ct.), has ruled against a homeowners’ association which sought a temporary injunction to...
View ArticleNew York City Church Asks Second Circuit to Reconsider Ruling in Bronx...
We reported earlier this month that the Second Circuit, in The Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York, No. 12-2730 (2d Cir. 2014), ruled that the Board of Education of...
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