Department of Justice urges Supreme Court to protect private religious gatherings

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a brief with the Supreme Court urging the reversal of a lower court ruling regarding religious gatherings in private residences. The case involves Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew in University Heights, Ohio, who sued his city after officials issued a cease-and-desist order preventing him from hosting prayer meetings in his home without a special-use permit.

Grand’s legal team alleges that after he withdrew a permit application—which would have required designating his home as a house of worship—the city targeted him through police patrols, investigations into housing code violations, and the withholding of tax abatements and occupancy certificates.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals previously dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that the case was not ‘ripe’ because Grand had not completed the permitting process. In its amicus brief, the DOJ argued that lower courts erred, stating that local governments cannot unlawfully use zoning laws to block small religious groups from gathering in private homes and that the injury to Grand was already concrete and sufficient for legal action.