Let There Be Light! City of Seattle Violates RLUIPA in Catholic High School’s...
On June 20, the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that the City of Seattle violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act’s (RLUIPA)...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court Invalidates Massachusetts Abortion Clinic Buffer Zone Law
In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has stricken as a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution a Massachusetts statute making it a crime to knowingly stand on a “public way...
View ArticlePagan Church and City of Beebe, Arkansas Embroiled in Religious Exercise Dispute
“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” An Essay on Criticism, Part II (1711) by Alexander Pope (1688-1744). We all make mistakes. And fortunately, many of our transgressions are forgiven. Sometimes,...
View ArticleABA’s Land Use, Planning & Development Forum
On July 15-16, the American Bar Association’s State & Local Government Section will be sponsoring three upcoming webinars as part of its first ever Land Use, Planning & Development forum that...
View ArticleAtheist Opens Town of Greece Board Meeting with Secular Invocation
On May 5, 2014, we reported on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which ruled that religious prayer before government meetings did not violate the Establishment Clause to...
View ArticleU.S. Supreme Court to Review Sign Ordinance for Possible Free Speech Violation
The U.S. Supreme Court granted Good News Community Church’s (Church) petition for a writ of certiorari to review the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Reed v. Town of...
View ArticleLake County, Illinois “Hat Trick”* Defeats Religious Meditation House in...
In MAUM Meditation House of Truth v. Lake County, Illinois, No. 13-cv-3794 (N.D. Ill. 2014), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled that Lake County, Illinois did...
View ArticleNew RLUIPA Suit: Bayview, Texas Sued Over Zoning Ordinance Prohibiting...
On July 22, 2014, Cornerstone Church by the Bay (Church) and Laguna Madre Christian Academy (Academy) sued the Town of Bayview, Texas (Town) under the Religious Land Use & Institutionalized Persons...
View ArticleU.S. DOJ Investigating James City County, Virginia for Possible RLUIPA Violation
The The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has notified James City County, Virginia that it has opened an investigation over the County’s 2013 refusal to allow Peninsula Pentecostal (Church) to...
View ArticleFlorida Church’s RLUIPA Suit Against City of Jacksonville Headed to Trial
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida has denied the City of Jacksonville’s motion to dismiss Church of Our Savior’s (formerly known as Resurrection Anglican Church)...
View ArticleSecond Circuit Rejects Atheists’ Challenge to 9/11 Museum’s “Cross at Ground...
In American Atheists v. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, No. 13-1668 (2d Cir. July 28, 2014), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held that the National September 11 Museum’s...
View ArticleVirginia Federal Court Distinguishes Town of Greece Where Board Members...
We’ve been following how some municipalities are dealing with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, which ruled that religious prayer before government meetings did not...
View ArticleChurch Ministering to Homeless Appeals Preliminary Injunction Denial to Ninth...
We’ve been following the lawsuit filed by Harbor Missionary Church against the City of San Buenaventura, California over the City’s denial of the Church’s application for a conditional use permit to...
View ArticleSCOTUS Schedules Argument in RLUIPA Prisoner Beard Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled arguments in Holt v. Hobbs for October 7, 2014. The case has been drawing interest because it is the first major religion case of the Supreme Court’s new term, and...
View ArticleTown of Greece Adopts New Policy for Pre-Board Meeting Invocations
On the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision in Town of Greece v. Galloway, the Town of Greece has adopted a new policy for pre-board meeting prayers. The new policy states in part that “It is the...
View ArticleNew Mexico Federal Court Rules Ten Commandments Display Outside City Hall...
In Felix v. City of Bloomfield (D. NM Aug. 7, 2014), the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico found that the display of a five-foot, granite Ten Commandments monument outside City Hall...
View ArticleIslamic Center and City of Norwalk, Connecticut Reach Proposed Settlement in...
Al Madany Islamic Center and the Norwalk Zoning Commission have agreed to the terms of a proposed settlement stemming from the Commission’s 2012 denial of the Islamic Center’s proposal to construct a...
View ArticleDOJ Sues Minnesota City Over Denial of Islamic Somali Immigrants’ Mosque...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued the City of St. Anthony Village under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) after the City Council, in 2012, denied the Abu...
View ArticleOrthodox Jewish Temple & City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida Settle RLUIPA Suit
Temple B’Nai Zion and the City of Sunny Isles Beach, Florida have settled their four-plus years of litigation over the Temple’s appeal of the City’s historic site designation of property owned by the...
View ArticleNew RLUIPA Suit Accuses Two New York Municipalities of Anti-Semitism
The Village of Bloomingburg, NY (Village) and the Town of Mamakating, NY (Town) are facing allegations of religious discrimination in land use regulation. On September 8, 2014, the Bloomingburg Jewish...
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