(JEWISH GROUP) US Supreme Court to hear University Heights home shul case

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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on June 30 to hear the case of Daniel Grand, a University Heights resident who is suing the city of University Heights, former Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan and other former and current city employees after being ordered by officials to stop hosting prayer services in his home at 2343 Miramar Blvd. without a permit.

“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,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said in a news release. “When government officials forbid that, courts must hold those individuals accountable, immediately. 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. We’re pleased the Supreme Court will hear this case.”

It is not yet known when the U.S. Supreme Court would hear the case, but the term of the Supreme Court, when it rules on cases, begins on the first Monday in October and continues until, typically, late June or early July. ADF, in partnership with San Francisco-based law firm Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe LLP, now represent Grand and filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging the highest court in the country to agree to hear the case, on May 28.

The National Jewish Advocacy Center, the Manhattan Institute, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the General Council of the Assemblies of God, the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists, the Orthodox Union, the National Council of Young Israel, and the American Center for Law and Justice all filed amicus curiae briefs, a legal document written by individuals or groups not directly involved in a case, over the suit to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the case.

The case arose from a land-use and zoning dispute between Grand and certain University Heights officials. Grand, who is Orthodox, is required to pray three times daily with a minyan – 10 men – and wanted to conduct the prayers in his home, rather than walking to a synagogue three times per day, according to previous Kesher reporting. On Jan. 19, 2021, Grand sent an email to about 12 neighbors, inviting them to be part of a minyan at his home at 2343 Miramar Blvd., along with any others invitees wanted to bring, according to the ruling. According to Grand’s Sept. 9, 2022, complaint, he said he invited men to pray with him in his home in January 2021, with Brennan confronting him that same month.

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https://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/kesher/news/community_news/us-supreme-court-to-hear-university-heights-home-shul-case/article_fa46c36b-2d35-4767-8cac-e223fb5e7bab.html