RLUIPA.org
Religious burden, Congressional authority key issues in Jewish school case
January 20, 2004
Religious burden, Congressional authority key issues in Jewish school case
Becket Fund submits amicus brief to federal appeals court in New York
Did the Village of Mamaroneck, New York "substantially burden" the religious exercise of a Jewish day school when it refused to grant a special permit so that the school could remodel and expand? And did Congress have the authority to enact the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) based, in part, on the enforcement clause of the 14th Amendment? Those are the key questions addressed in an amicus curiae brief (PDF format, 117K) submitted today by The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Westchester Day School v. Village of Mamaroneck. It is one of the first RLUIPA cases involving a constitutional challenge to the land use portions of the law to reach a federal circuit court of appeals.
Westchester Day School is a coeducational Orthodox Jewish elementary/middle school established on a 26 acre site in Mamaroneck, New York in 1948. Most classes are held in Wolfson Hall, a building constructed in the 1960s. By 2000, enrollment had doubled, and there was a pressing need for additional space. But when the school asked the Village Board of Appeals to approve plans for a new building, the Board put the school through procedural hurdles that dragged on for a year and a half. Finally, after the school had spent $250,000 on required studies and legal fees, on May 13, 2003 the Board voted down the application.
The school filed suit in federal court, charging Mamaroneck with violating RLUIPA, and on September 5, 2003 U.S. District Judge William C. Conner upheld RLUIPA's constitutionality and ruled that the Village's complete denial of the permit application "was not based on any compelling governmental interest or on a fair balancing of environmental concerns with the rights to WDS to the reasonable use of its property." He ordered the immediate and unconditional issuance of the school's permit appliction. One business day later, the Village appealed the decision to the Second Circuit.
The Becket Fund filed today's amicus brief on behalf of itself, the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and the Association of Christian Schools International, all of whom "share a common interest in assuring that [RLUIPA] is both upheld as constitutional and interpreted to address effectively the discretionary burdens that local governments so commonly impose on core religions activities – including religious education – through land use laws."