Tag Archives: Topic: RLUIPA

Chicago Tribune: “After an uproar over three controversial proposals to build or expand Islamic centers in DuPage County, about 60 people attended a more than two-hour public hearing on Thursday evening to debate a proposed ban on opening new religious facilities in unincorporated residential areas in the county.”

WKMS: “This week, the Mayfield zoning board denied a conditional use permit that would have allowed a mosque in the city’s downtown. This is the first conditional use permit submitted by a religious organization the board has denied . . . ‘We certainly have obviously serious concerns about the procedural irregularities. But we will undertake a review of the situation and decide what actions, if any, the ACLU will undertake.’”

CBS2: “It is an empty restaurant in the West Rogers Park neighborhood. Some wanted to turn into a mosque. Business leaders and the city apparently don’t agree.”

WXII 12: “The High Point Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended the approval of two zoning requests that could allow a new mosque to built in the city after a lengthy public hearing that included several testimonies of support and several in opposition to the requests.”

Associated Press: “A proposal to build a 145,000-square-foot monastery and coffee-roasting barn on a remote Wyoming ranch drew so many opponents and supporters to a public hearing that a second session had to be scheduled.”

Strings Attached: An Analysis of the Eruv Under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act
Alexandra Lang Susman, 9 U. Md. L.J. Race, Religion, Gender & Class 93 (2010)

“Part II will detail what an eruv is, its place in Jewish law, its importance for Orthodox Jewish communities, and the opposition to it. Part III will examine whether government facilitation of an eruv is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the Constitution. Part IV will examine whether government prohibition of an eruv is a significant burdening of religion, in violation of the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution or of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. Finally, this Article will question whether local governments can constitutionally permit the construction of an eruv, while maintaining its legality under Jewish law, thus bridging the gap between the two legal paradigms.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Amid mounting pressure surrounding its controversial zoning code, the Borough of Pemberton conceded yesterday that the Apostolic Church of Deliverance (ACD) can worship at 207 Hanover Street. This switch in position comes on the eve of a federal hearing and two weeks after the Borough’s Planning Board denied the church’s use application even though it was aware of the church’s federal rights.”

The Champion Newspaper: “The city of Avondale Estates shut down the Christ Liberty Family Life Center – a church – in April because it didn’t meet the city’s acreage and frontage requirements. Now, the church is fighting back – with a lawsuit . . . The church is also represented locally by Kevin Theriot of the Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious groups and is financially assisting the church’s case against Avondale Estates. City Manager Clai Brown did not immediately return a call for comment.”

“Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims “have to build everywhere” so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.”

LoHud.com: “Yesterday’s court decision, which could cost Greenburgh $4 million, said the town violated the church’s rights under the First Amendment’s ‘free exercise’ of religion clause and the Fourth Amendment’s ‘equal protection’ clause . . . The judge wrote that town Supervisor Paul Feiner directed town staff, including town attorneys and consultants, to perform research and provide ideas for ways to support the denial of the church’s application. Town Board members instructed employees to ‘kill the project’ and prepare an environmental study to achieve a negative outcome, he wrote.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A federal judge has ordered Avondale Estates to let a church resume its activities as it pursues a discrimination case against the small DeKalb County city.”

Rush Limbaugh transcript of August 12th: “RUSH: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, zoning laws. I’m sure have encountered them. Zoning laws tell churches where they can and can’t go all the time. There’s a group out there called the Alliance Defense Fund. The last few years they’ve been running all over the country suing cities and counties and states over churches being turned down by zoning boards, and they have not yet won a case, I don’t think. So zoning laws already dictate where you — the First Amendment’s got nothing whatsoever to do with building a church wherever you want to put one.’” | Contrast ADF press release, June 25, 2010: NH church receives more than $1.1 million over unconstitutional zoning restrictions | more RLUIPA related ADF press releases

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Texas filed a friend-of-the-court brief today with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the right of a prisoner in Texas to seek monetary damages from the state under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) after he was denied access to a prison chapel for religious purposes. The name of the case is Sossamon v. Texas.”

Fox News: “As the Muslim population grows and their communities spread throughout the state, religious leaders say their places of worship must do the same, spurring the construction of mosques and the massive Islamic centers that host them in several Tennessee cities, including Murfreesboro, Memphis and Antioch. But the physical size of these Islamic centers – and the associations and writings of some of the leaders behind them – are raising some concerns nationwide.”

Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: “[T]he legal issue is open and shut. The Free Exercise Clause means that the government may not discriminate against an entity because of its religious denomination. The Free Speech Clause means that the government generally may not discriminate an entity because of what it says or teaches (and that applies to discrimination against religious speakers as much as to discrimination against secular speakers). There are some exceptions to the latter principle, but none apply here.”

New York Times: “While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations.”

The Desert Dispatch: “The City Council has decided to obtain legal advice before deciding whether or not a Samoan pastor has to pave about 400 feet of road in order to build his church.”

USA Today: “This case is a perfect example of the delicate nature of religious freedom. Religious freedom is most tenuous when the religious act in question is unpopular, and the building of this mosque is unpopular, to put it mildly. The proposed Islamic center shows an incredible lack of sensitivity on the part of the Cordoba Initiative, the group backing the mosque.”

The Boston Globe: “Governor Deval Patrick, who this spring became the state’s first sitting governor to visit a mosque, lent his support yesterday to an Islamic Center proposed near ground zero, stepping into the middle of a growing national furor over locating a Muslim house of worship so near the site of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer: “After months of uncertainty as the city threatened to seize the land, construction of a $70 million Mormon temple near Logan Square will not only proceed but will help make the Parkway ‘one of the most incredible boulevards anywhere in the world,’ Mayor Nutter said Monday.”

“There has got to be one rule, and that one rule may not in the American constitutional tradition discriminate between faiths . . . I do not believe the Ground Zero mosque should be built”

Walll Street Journal: “The commission’s chairman, Robert B. Tierney, said the building at 45-47 Park Place ‘does not rise to the level of an individual landmark.’ The 11-member panel is appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has vehemently defended the mosque as an example of religious freedom.”

Associated Press: “The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0, saying the 152-year-old building blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks wasn’t special or distinctive enough to meet criteria to qualify as a landmark. Commissioners also said that other buildings from the era were better examples of the building’s style.”

OneNewsNow: “ADF Senior Counsel [Kevin Theriot] explains that his firm is arguing the zoning law violates the Constitution and is pointing out that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act prohibits zoning officials from singling out churches. He laments that this unconstitutional restriction, which non-religious groups do not face, has damaged the church.” | ADF News Release

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “A church that Avondale Estates shut down earlier this year has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the small DeKalb County city . . . The church is represented by Mauck & Baker, a Chicago-based law firm known for representing churches and religious institutions, and [Kevin Theriot] of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

The Daily News Journal: “The Rutherford County Commission’s Steering Committee will review land uses by right such as for religious institutions under the zoning resolution tonight.”

Christian Web News: “ADF Senior Counsel [Kevin Theriot] said, ‘Churches should not be singled out for discrimination by a city’s zoning restrictions. Federal law and the Constitution prohibit city officials from targeting Christ Liberty. It is irresponsible for the government to create and enforce ordinances that can have the effect of shutting down religious ministries that serve the community.’”

ADF Attorney Joel Oster writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “[A] recent decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of appeals in River of Life Kingdom Ministries v. Village of Hazel Crest, Illinois, threatens to gut the protections of RLUIPA . . . According to the court, the town was justified in discriminating against the city because ‘commerce and industry’ are ‘necessary and desirable elements of the community’. But what about the church? Is not the work of the church necessary and desirable for the community? Of course it is. But to certain government officials who only understand the value of the dollar, providing moral direction and the other benefits of churches is worthless.” | More information on the case is available here.

Restrictions in the ordinance, many of which do not apply to non-religious organizations, have forced the small congregation to stop meeting on its leased property and relocate to various inferior locations, resulting in plummeting attendance and causing cancellation of numerous ministries, outreaches, and functions.

Religion Clause Blog: TPMDC [includes video] reported yesterday that Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, a candidate in the state’s gubernatorial primary (currently running third), suggested in an answer to a question at a campaign event that Islam may not be protected by the Constitution’s free exercise clause. Referring to a dispute over a zoning change to permit an Islamic center to be built in Murfreesboro (TN) . . . ”

Courier-Post: “In a lawsuit filed on July 16, the Apostolic Church of Deliverance accuses the borough of violating the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000. … The complaint asserts that the borough permits only those uses outlined under the municipal zoning code. Churches are not among the permitted uses under the code, which means religious institutions must seek a variance in order to operate in Pemberton, it says.” | Complaint in Apostolic Church of Deliverance v. Borough of Pemberton (D.N.J.)

The Longmont Times-Call: “A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld its own ruling that a federal jury had enough evidence to support its decision that the Boulder County commissioners violated a federal law in 2006 when they denied the church’s request to expand.” | Rocky Mountain Christian Church v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, Colorado, No. 09-1188 (10th Cir., July 19, 2010) | See Religion Clause for more information.

Christian Newswire (Mauck & Baker): Pemberton’s current zoning code prohibits new churches throughout the Borough, and where non-religious assembly uses are allowed as of right, religious organizations must prove they deserve a zoning variance – a violation of RLUIPA and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.”

CNN (includes video): “In Islam, a mosque means ‘We have conquered this country,’” one man told CNN affiliate WTVF. “And where are they? They’re in the center of Tennessee. They’re going to say, ‘We have conquered Tennessee.’”

AP: “Dozens of opponents and some supporters of a mosque planned near ground zero attended a raucous hearing Tuesday about whether the building where the Muslim place of worship would be created warrants designation as a city landmark and should be protected from development.”

CNSNews: “In an interview with The Associated Press, Rep. Peter King raised concerns about the sources of funding for the proposed $100 million mosque, just blocks away from the site of the Sept. 11 attacks, where nearly 3,000 Americans died at the hands of Islamic terrorists.”

Boston Globe (AP): “New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says it would be un-American to investigate a mosque that is planned for construction near where the World Trade Center once stood.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In New Life Worship Center v. Town of Smithfield Zoning Board of Review, 2010 R.I. Super. LEXIS 101 (RI Super. Ct., July 7, 2010), a Rhode Island trial court upheld the decision of a town zoning board to bar use of space in a high school operated by New Life Worship Center, a religious organization, for use as a commercial fitness center and dance studio . . . ”

One News Now: “Government bodies are making it difficult for volunteers to provide for the needs of the homeless at public sites or their own facilities, such as churches. A study done by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP) confirms the results of a 2007 study . . . ”

“In River of Life Kingdom Ministries v. Village of Hazel Crest, Illinois, (7th Cir en banc, July 2, 2010), the 7th Circuit in an en banc decision interpreted the equal terms provision of RLUIPA by creating a modified version of the test used by the 3rd Circuit. The 7th Circuit’s test treats a regulation as violating the Equal Terms provision ‘only if it treats religious assemblies or institutions less well than secular assemblies or institutions that are similarly situated as to the regulatory criteria.’” | Via Religion Clause. | View opinion in Google Viewer

SentinelSource.com: “‘Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination and penalized by a city’s zoning restrictions because of their religious viewpoint,’ said [Doug Napier], senior legal counsel for the group. ‘It was right that Saint Benedict Center was compensated for years of unconstitutional restrictions that made it impossible to finish the construction of its church and school building.’”

The Daily News Journal: “The Tennessee Religious Freedom Protection Act recognizes rights beyond land uses for mosques, churches, temples and other places of worship, lawyers said. … The law’s land use rights mirror the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act passed by Congress in 2000. Given that, Fowler said no one should blame legislative sponsors who include state Sen. Jim Tracy, R-Shelbyville, for passing a law that makes it harder for local governments to regulate or reject religious institutions such as the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.” | Via KnoxNews.com / Humphrey on a Hill

Adhi Parasakthi Charitable, Medical, Educational and Cultural Society of North America v. Township of West Pikeland, (ED PA, June 23, 2010) | Google Viewer

Religion Clause: “A Pennsylvania federal district court held that ‘in granting an overly broad amount of discretion to its Zoning Board in deciding whether to allow expressive religious use of land within the Township, Defendant has created a prior restraint on speech in violation of Plaintiff’s First Amendment rights.’ On plaintiff’s free exercise and RLUIPA claims, the court held that there are factual disputes which a jury must decide as to whether the Township’s zoning law was applied discriminatorily.”

The Keene Sentinel: “On Friday, the $1.15 million settlement with the conservative Catholic St. Benedict Center was announced. The deal is one of the largest of its kind, according to the Alliance Defense Fund.” | ADF News Release

The Daily Mail: “After four long years of being denied religious property status, a landmark court battle over a cloister of pagan witches is brewing. The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater, a faction of matriarchal priestesses living in a historic Palenville inn, has filed suit against the Town of Catskill after being denied a religious property tax exemption on their three-acre parcel along Route 23A.” | Via Religion Clause.

The Keene Sentinel: “It’s being hailed as one of the largest settlements of its kind — Richmond town officials have agreed to pay $1.15 million to end a religious discrimination case. … The settlement was announced Friday afternoon by the Alliance Defense Fund … ‘Churches shouldn’t be singled out for discrimination and penalized by a city’s zoning restrictions because of their religious viewpoint,’ said [Doug Napier], senior legal counsel for the group.” | ADF News Release

ADF-allied attorney secures one of largest zoning settlements in U.S. history

Miami Herald: “Somerset Academy has given the city a Friday deadline to issue a certificate of use for a proposed 675-student charter school at University Baptist Church or ‘Somerset will pursue all available remedies,’ the school’s attorney wrote in a letter last week to City Attorney Elizabeth Hernandez. … Hernandez says . . . the site is zoned for a religious institution and allows a school only as a secondary use. But representatives for the school say land use and zoning changes are not needed because a state law allows churches to house charter schools regardless of zoning.”

The Daily Breeze: “Years after one of the South Bay’s largest churches roiled its neighbors in a failed attempt to grow even bigger, Rolling Hills Covenant Church is putting forward a new expansion plan. … After years of repeated late-night meetings, and amid passionate outcry from neighbors and threats of litigation from the church, the plan was scaled back. It failed to gain City Council approval, nonetheless. Now the church is hoping simply to get the go-ahead for more Sunday-school classrooms and executive offices, among other improvements. The expansion is a modest 16,000-square-foot addition to the nearly 64,000-square-foot existing campus.”

This Land is My Land: The Tension Between Federal Use of Public Lands and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Lieutenant Colonel James E. Key, 65 A.F. L. Rev. 51 (2010)

“This article posits that despite its sweeping language, Congress never intended for RFRA to control government land use decisions with respect to public lands. Two legislative options to remove RFRA from these types of decisions are to either (1) amend RFRA to explicitly exclude public land use or (2) repeal RFRA in its entirety. Without legislative action, government agencies must prepare to meet RFRA challenges by relying on existing legal precedent.”

Religion Clause Blog: “A lawsuit has been filed against the village of South Blooming Grove, New York by a Satmar Hasidic group that wants to restore an old club house at a former resort on Lake Anne. Today’s Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record reports that the lawsuit, originally filed in state court but transferred to federal court on the judge’s order, claims that the village’s refusal to consider Sheri Torah’s application violates RLUIPA.”

Religion Clause Blog: “AP yesterday reported that the village of Sufferin, New York has settled a RLUIPA lawsuit brought against it by the Department of Justice chllenging the village’s refusal to grant a zoning variance to permit the operation of a ‘Shabbos House’ near Good Samaritan Hospital.”

East Valley Tribune: “A Phoenix church has reached a deal with the city that ends a pending federal court battle over the church’s pancake breakfast service . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “The court held that while a landowner who intends to rent his property to a Christian church has standing to bring a ‘substantial burden’ claim under RLUIPA, the exclusion of churches from one area does not place a substantial burden on free exercise when other ares in the Town are available for churches.”

Dixon v. Town of Coats, No. 5:08-CV-489-BR  (ED NC, June 9, 2010)

“As many as 10,000 protesters from across the country – including family members who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001 – took to the streets in New York City Sunday to fight construction of a 13-story Islamic mosque . . . ”

Albany Law School | Law of the Land blog: “The Walk in Love for Jesus Christ Church operated as of right in a residential district prior to a change in the zoning ordinance that now requires a special exception permit for religious uses . . . First, with respect to standing, the Court ruled that although the Church was initially incorporated as a charitable and not religious corporation, the Court will focus on the use itself and not the religious nature of the organization. Therefore, since the petitioner proposes to use the premises as a house of worship and to conduct regular services, it is a religious use. The Court then concluded that the Board’s denial was arbitrary and capricious.” | Capriola d/b/a/ Walk in Love for Jesus Christ v. Wright, 2010 WL 2000320 (N.Y.A.D. 2 Dept. 5/18/2010)

NY Post: “Angry relatives of 9/11 victims last night clashed with supporters of a planned mosque near Ground Zero at a raucous community-board hearing in Manhattan. After four hours of public debate, members of Community Board 1 finally voted 29-1 in support of the project. Nine members abstained, arguing that they wanted to table the issue and vote at a later date. The board has no official say over whether the estimated $100 million mosque and community center gets built . . . ”

Arizona Republic: “The Potter’s House Christian Fellowship Center has been shut down by the city of Glendale. Under a cease-and-desist order issued April 26, the church’s pastor, the Rev. James Martinez, could be cited and thrown into jail if he returns to the sanctuary. Simply put: Glendale doesn’t allow churches in industrial areas and even if it did, Martinez’s church doesn’t meet city safety standards . . . That raises the eyebrows of [Daniel Blomberg], of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group. ‘Why are they going to allow a drive-in movie theater but not a church?’ he asked.”

The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act and Mega-Churches: Demonstrating the Limits of Religious Land Use Exemptions in Federal Legislation
Heather M. Welch, 39 U. Balt. L. Rev. 255 (2010)

“This Comment uses the phenomenon of mega-churches as a vehicle to illustrate the common criticisms RLUIPA opponents have raised and to demonstrate the significant impact RLUIPA has had and has the potential to have on local land use regulations as well as on the communities coping with the impact of mega-churches. This Comment concludes that RLUIPA and similar federal legislation that applies broad First Amendment protection to all religious land use is ill equipped to address secular land use by religious institutions like mega-churches. The substantial disconnect between the land use challenges that local governments currently face and the authority that they retain under RLUIPA compels the conclusion that RLUIPA is both impractical in application and unconstitutional. Locally developed land use regulations are better equipped to meet the demands of a developing religious society and account for all of the interests at stake when a land use dispute arises.”

CNSNews: “New York City officials say a plan to tear down a building and put up a mosque near the World Trade Center site will need the approval of a commission that protects landmarks . . . ”

SCOTUS Blog has published its most recent list of petitions to watch. The list includes 2 RLUIPA cases and a school choice case that should be of interest to ADF Alliance Alert readers.

10 Connects: “Ybor Square, which houses the Spaghetti Warehouse and Creative Loafing newspaper, is owned by the Church of Scientology. As a religious building, the church will be exempt from paying almost $75,000 in property taxes . . . Pardo [head of the Ybor Community Development District] says he is also worried about the Scientologists taking up the limited parking spaces in the district. But the biggest question is how the Scientologists got approval from the city and zoning administrator Catherine Coyle, because places of religious assembly are prohibited in that part of Ybor City.”

“The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today rejected Boulder County’s appeal of the 2008 jury decision that allowed the church to expand.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Arizona Republic reports that Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday signed House Bill 2596 that gives added protections from land use regulations to religious institutions. It prohibits zoning regulations that impose an unreasonable burden on the exercise of religion, even if the government has a compelling interest . . . ”

ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on Freedom’s Ring with Alan J. Reinach to discuss the increasing prevalence of zoning barriers to religious assemblies in homes. | MP3 13:20 mins

Washington Post:”Prince George’s County officials have decided not to seek further appeal in a court battle against a Laurel church that was awarded $3.7 million from a jury in 2008. Reaching Hearts International, a Seventh-day Adventist church, claimed the county unfairly tried to thwart its plan to build a sanctuary on 17 acres in Laurel. Jurors for the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt found that the county’s actions were motivated at least in part by discriminatory intent against a religious institution.”

CitizenLink: “Elijah Group, an Evangelical Christian Church, is fighting City Hall in Leon Valley, Texas. The city says it’s fine for the church to use the facilities for a day care and counseling center, but it cannot meet in the building for worship on the weekends because of zoning laws.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Avondale Estates shut down a church that recently set up shop in the central DeKalb County city, but why depends on whom you ask. City officials said the Christ Liberty Family Center on Maple Street doesn’t have enough room for parking. The owner of the building, Joe Gargiulo, said the code violations are just a way for the city to lash out over its failed annexation bid on land that he owns.”

New York Times | Arts Beat: “‘Forced landmarking has the effect of imposing the governmental idea of mission on the congregation,’ said the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Robert L. Brashear, in an interview. ‘There is a profound church-state issue here. Religious liberty has not been well-served by this decision.’”

Confusion and Coercion in Church Property Litigation
Brian Schmalzbach, 96 Va. L. Rev. 443 (2010)

“If, after a relatively calm decade in the 1990s, the Protestant Episcopal Church thought its role on the church property front of the American Kulturkampf was over, it was in for a rude awakening. The 2003 ordination of Gene Robinson, an openly homosexual bishop, ignited a firestorm of dissent and ultimately provoked dozens of Episcopal parishes and even whole dioceses to leave one of the oldest Protestant denominations in America. The conflict reached a head in 2006, when eleven Virginia parishes withdrew from the Episcopal Church and affiliated with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. The massive, multi-million dollar litigation over property worth tens of millions of dollars that followed concerned one simple question: Is the local parish or the supercongregational denomination entitled to retain control of church property? Answering this question has implicated a host of exceedingly complex constitutional problems.”

The Arizona Republic: “Last Tuesday, the Town Council gave final approval to an amendment that changes the code to allow worship services in private homes. The Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the Oasis of Truth Church in challenging the code, hailed Gilbert’s response. ‘It cures the problem,’ senior legal counsel Douglas Napier said.”

Becket Fund (5/7): “Today, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a brief in federal appeals court defending right of the Elijah Group, a small Evangelical Christian church in Leon Valley, Texas, to hold worship services in its own church building. According to Leon Valley, the church is welcome to use its building for a day care and counseling center five days per week, but the local zoning code prohibits the church from holding worship services on Sunday. Religious assemblies are excluded from the relevant zoning area because they allegedly interfere with commercial activity and decrease the city’s tax revenue.”

Arizona Republic: “Swift action by the Gilbert Town Council to correct a ‘bad ordinance’ has restored the town’s reputation among faith-based groups, according to the Alliance Defense Fund . . . On Tuesday night, the Town Council gave final approval to an amendment that protects such groups’ religious freedom. ‘It cures the problem,’ said [Douglas Napier], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale-based religious legal organization.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In Florer v. Congregation Pidyon Shevuyim, (9th Cir., May 5, 2010), the 9th Circuit held that a Jewish organization which had contracted with the Washington Department of Corrections to provide Jewish religious services to prisoners acted under color of state law and not merely as a private party for purposes of a prisoner’s RLUIPA claim.”

Courthouse News Service: “A split 9th Circuit panel rejected the claims of a Muslim woman who said she suffered a ‘deeply humiliating and defiling experience’ when she was forced to remove her headscarf for security reasons at the Orange County Superior Courthouse . . . The district court dismissed Khatib’s religious freedom claim, ruling that a courthouse holding cell is not an ‘institution’ as defined by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. The Act protects the right of institutionalized people to practice religion.” | Khatib v. County of Orange, No. 08-56423 (9th Cir. May 3, 2010)

Christian Newswire: “Attorney Daniel P. Dalton of Tomkiw Dalton, plc in Royal Oak, Mich. will be a featured speaker at the 2010 American Bar Association spring meeting, which will be held in Miami from April 29 to May 2. Dalton will share his expertise in the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) on Friday, April 30.”