The Buckeye Institute, 14 state AGs support for Ohio barred from hosting home prayer group

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving prayer and private property rights filed by an Orthodox Jew in University Heights, who said he was harassed and barred from hosting a home prayer group without a special-use permit.

Petitioner Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew, must 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. After neighbors complained to the city of University Heights, city officials said he needed a special-use permit to comply with local zoning rules governing religious assemblies.

City officials later reversed course, and Mayor Michele Weiss, who took office in January, said that Grand was told he could host the prayer gathering without a permit. Weiss’ office also said she is Orthodox Jewish and that houses of worship currently exist in homes in the city.

Grand, represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 2022 after he tried to hold a prayer group in his home a year earlier. After a lower court dismissed the case, Grand petitioned the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case on June 30.

The nation’s highest court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Grand v. City of University Heights on Dec. 9.

The case also garnered widespread support from 14 state attorneys general and several nonpartisan groups. The Buckeye Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Columbus, is among those that have filed amicus briefs in the case, which could have significant implications for county land use and permitting processes.

“From the Pilgrims secret meetings in Scrooby Manor, to John Locke’s theories of linking property and religious liberty, to James Madison’s belief that the free exercise of one’s religion is itself a property right, property and freedom of conscience have flowed together throughout American history and must be protected from government tyranny,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute.

In addition, Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman announced that his state is leading a 14-state coalition in defense of Grand to protect religious liberties.

“The free exercise of religion is one of our most fundamental freedoms,” Coleman said, per FOX56 News. “When government uses its power to crack down on faith practices it disagrees with, courts must move with speed to protect our liberties.”

The Buckeye Institute called on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the property rights and religious liberty rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution. In its amicus brief, The Buckeye Institute argues “our nation’s intellectual history inextricably links private property and religious freedom.”

The Kentucky-led attorney general brief includes the attorneys general of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia. The state coalition argues that the city’s actions to prevent Grand from exercising his religion in his home are unconstitutional.

“A governmental entity should not put any barrier between a citizen and their ability to freely pray in accordance with their religious beliefs,” South Carolina Attorney General Wilson said. “We must stand against any attempt to infringe on the right of Americans to participate in religious exercises, especially inside their own homes.”

The AGs said First Amendment violations “happen swiftly and often occur under the guise of public safety, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.” The states maintain the courts have a duty to promptly address and remedy those First Amendment threats when they arise, given the “swiftness and severity of those harms.”

In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that, when it was enacted, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) recognized that private property helps guarantee religious freedom. The RLUIPA warrants the “broadest possible interpretation in favor of those who use private property to engage in religious conduct,” Carson said.

Grand initially asked about a special-use permit but said completing it would have required him to convert his home into 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; that city services stopped collecting his trash for several weeks; and that officials threatened him with “bogus” property violations.