The Justice Department filed a statement of interest yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire explaining that the claims brought by a Christian church and its pastor under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) are ready to be heard and determined in federal court.
The statement of interest was filed in Grace New England v. Town of Weare, a private lawsuit alleging that the town violated RLUIPA by threating fines against a small home-based church and its pastor.
“RLUIPA protects the freedom of religious groups to worship without undue government interference,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “When localities threaten fines against religious groups to force them to undertake unnecessary land use review, RLUIPA offers them an avenue for relief through the courts. The Civil Rights Division stands ready to protect the fundamental religious freedom rights of all Americans.”
The plaintiffs operate a home-based church on a 5-acre property in the town of Weare, New Hampshire. The complaint alleges that the town permitted secular assemblies and events on the property, but once plaintiffs began to hold religious services, the town demanded a formal site plan review – despite a New Hampshire state law prohibiting this requirement for religious land use. The plaintiffs sued the town, alleging that its demands and threatened fines constitute a substantial burden on their religious exercise and demonstrate unequal treatment by the town as compared to similar secular uses.
The town filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing in part that the plaintiffs’ claims are not ready to be heard by the court. The department’s statement of interest refutes these contentions, explaining that the plaintiffs’ claims are ripe for judicial review even though plaintiffs have not gone through the full site review process and that RLUIPA does not require a plaintiff to exhaust administrative appeals before filing a lawsuit.