It was just last year that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, or RLUIPA, celebrated its 20th anniversary. During that time, the U.S. Supreme Court has never issued a substantive opinion on a religious land use matter based on RLUIPA. However, the Supreme Court has now issued an
A Florida court held that a church, as part of its religious exercise, can offer its parking lot as an access point to a nearby beach to general members of the public. Pass-A-Grille Beach Community Church, just outside St. Petersburg, Florida, argued that the local government’s attempts to restrict the
A Michigan federal court judge denied a group of parents and nonpublic schools’ request for a preliminary injunction that sought to enjoin COVID-19 restrictions the state implemented in November that precluded the school from hosting in-person classes. The one-page opinion from Judge Paul Maloney said the motion was rendered moot
A New York village settled one lawsuit alleging violations of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) while the U.S. Department of Justice filed a new, larger lawsuit against the village alleging a broad, ongoing practice of discriminating against religious land uses. The federal government’s lawsuit alleges that
A group of nonpublic schools has filed suit in Michigan federal court alleging that the state’s Health and Human Services directive that schools remain closed through December 20 violates the First Amendment. The lawsuit was filed on December 7 by the Michigan Association of Nonpublic Schools (MANS), which has since
Just months after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a California religious group’s challenge to COVID-19 restrictions on group worship, the Court blocked such restrictions on religious organizations in New York. The decision, by a 5-4 vote, confirms that the closely divided court has become somewhat unpredictable as to
On October 22, 2020, Governor Whitmer signed into law House Bill 6159, creating a Pandemic Health Care Immunity Act to protect health care workers against liability for claims arising out of care provided in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This law was part of a package of COVID-related bills signed