Napa Legal Files Amicus Brief at the US Supreme Court to Promote Religious Liberty

On April 27, Napa Legal joined the Manhattan Institute in filing an amicus brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in the important case of Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist v. Frederic.

The Missionaries of St. John the Baptist, a Catholic religious community in Kentucky, had a simple desire: to build a Marian grotto on its property. The local zoning board approved the land use, but a few neighbors objected and argued that building the grotto would violate the zoning code because the grotto was not being built next to an “arterial street,” which is essentially a highway. While the neighbors cited possible concerns about increased traffic and parking, the result was that a religious organization was prevented from using its own property for religious devotion and worship based on a zoning technicality and a complaint from a neighbor.

The courts in Kentucky, including the Kentucky Supreme Court, sided with the neighbors and prohibited the religious organization from building its grotto. Beyond the facts themselves, there are several concerning legal implications in this decision. In particular, Napa Legal took interest in the Kentucky Supreme Court’s rejection of the religious organization’s Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) claim. This federal statute was passed to ensure that, when land-use laws impose a substantial burden on religious exercise, those laws will be subject to strict scrutiny. Yet the test adopted by the Kentucky Supreme Court (based on a precedent from a case called Livingston in the 6^th Circuit) places a nearly impossibly high bar on what is considered a “substantial burden.” This “substantial burden” test is an inappropriate way to apply RLUIPA and makes this crucial religious liberty protection for religious land use practically meaningless. Several other federal courts use tests that are much more faithful to Congress’ intent and maintain RLUIPA’s effectiveness.

Therefore, Frank DeVito, Napa Legal’s Senior Counsel, was honored to join Manhattan Institute attorneys Ilya Shapiro and John Ketcham (Good Counselor Project Fellow, Class of 2024) in petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear this case, particularly in order to reject the Livingston test and apply a more appropriate “substantial burden” test. If the U.S. Supreme Court hears this case and overrules the Kentucky Supreme Court, it would create a much-needed precedent to ensure religious organizations can use their property for religious purposes without being subject to restrictive and inappropriate land-use laws.  

The brief can be read in full here.

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