RLUIPA.org
Judge will hear oral arguments on constitutionality of religious land use law
U.S. District Court Judge Stewart Dalzell today ordered that attorneys for The Becket Fund, the U.S. Government and the Township of Middletown, Pennsylvania appear in his court on April 19 to present oral arguments on the constitutionality of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 ("RLUIPA").
The Becket Fund, together with local attorney L. Theodore Hoppe, Jr., represents Freedom Baptist Church of Delaware County in its lawsuit against the Township of Middletown. Township officials ordered the church to stop holding worship services in rented space on the first floor of an office building in the O-1 district, where religious worship is not permitted under any circumstances. In fact, religious worship is not a "permitted use" in any of the Township's 17 zoning districts. The church's lawsuit charges the Township with violating the U.S. and Pennsylvania Constitutions and RLUIPA. On January 15 of this year, the Township moved to dismiss the complaint on grounds that RLUIPA is unconstitutional.
The Becket Fund and the U.S. Department of Justice have both filed briefs with the court opposing the motion to dismiss and defending the constitutionality of RLUIPA. The full text of the briefs, and the amended complaint in the case, are available on both of The Becket Fund's web sites: www.becketfund.org and www.rluipa.com . The RLUIPA web site contains extensive additional information about the law and about other cases filed under the statute elsewhere in the country. The Becket Fund also represents Congregation Kol Ami in a RLUIPA lawsuit against another Philadelphia suburb, Abington Township. That case, which the Congregation won on constitutional grounds at the district court level, is on appeal to the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.