Orthodox Jewish Ohioan petitions the U.S. Supreme Court to hear case over University Heights requiring a special use permit for a home prayer group

A University Heights resident has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to decide a case involving city officials who require a special use permit to hold a prayer group in a private home.

Petitioner Daniel Grand and the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is providing legal counsel in the case, have said the city does not require permits for non-religious home events.

Grand originally attempted to hold a prayer group in his home in 2021. He is an Orthodox Jew and is required to pray with a minyan, a prayer quorum of at least 10 adult males, three times each weekday and four times on the Sabbath and holy days, when driving is prohibited.

A neighbor reported the event, and the city’s law director issued a cease-and-desist letter. The city told Grand that he would need a special-use permit to comply with local zoning rules governing religious assemblies.

“Basically, the city knew what they were doing,” Grand recently told Fox News. “They tricked me. I felt like they lied to me, actually. And I simply tried to comply.”

“So the next day, trying to be a good Samaritan, if you will, I went ahead, and I followed their advice that they gave me in that cease and desist letter, thinking I would just be able to have this permit. And it opened up into a very large scale negative event.”

Grand said that completing the permit would have required him to convert his home into a nonresidential property.

Grand also told Fox that the previous mayor of University Heights, Michael Brennan, encouraged neighbors to report activity at his home, that police conducted frequent drive-bys, city services stopped collecting his trash for several weeks, and that officials threatened him with “bogus” property violations.

“It’s just absurd,” Grand said. “I live here. It’s my house. It’s still my house… whether they’re reading Oprah Book Club of the month or a Bible, the Oprah Book Club is fine, but the Bible is a problem, according to that mayor of University Heights.”

Mayor Michele Weiss, who took office in January, said that Grand was later informed he could host the prayer gathering without a permit.

“Mr. Grand presented to the City Planning Commission during the previous administration,” the city said in a statement to Fox. “After a public hearing and comment, the Commission tabled the matter for further proceedings. During this time, Mr. Grand withdrew his application. Soon thereafter, he then filed a lawsuit.”

“Subsequently, the City sent Mr. Grand legal correspondence which stated that he was able to pray with a small group (a minyan) in his home WITHOUT going through the Planning Commission process.”

Weiss’s office also said that she is Orthodox Jewish and that there are currently houses of worship in homes in the city.

Grand filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2022.
The district court dismissed the lawsuit in 2024, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed the dismissal in 2025.

“We appreciate Mayor Weiss and the current administration’s sensitivity to the Orthodox Jewish community, and we recognize that this matter arose under the prior administration,” Grand’s legal counsel said. “But this case is about the harms already done and there is plenty of evidence to suggest what happened was wrong and unconstitutional.”

Grand petitioned the Supreme Court in February after the lower courts dismissed his case.

ADF and co-counsel Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP filed a reply brief on Grand’s behalf, urging the Court to review the case in May.

“Every American has the right to host a prayer gathering in his home, and he certainly doesn’t need a city permit to do so,” ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said in a press release. “When government officials forbid that, courts must hold those individuals accountable.”

“The city’s actions underscore a troubling trend of weaponizing zoning laws against people of faith while allowing other gatherings of the same size, like book clubs or poker nights, to meet without issue. This is religious discrimination that the First Amendment prohibits.”

The Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to hear the case by the end of June.