Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 5, 2015

LITCHFIELD (AP) A historic district in Connecticut being sued for rejecting plans for a synagogue in 2007 is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out the lawsuit.

The Litchfield Historic District Commission and the Borough of Litchfield asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hear the case. The move comes after the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge, then reinstated by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan in September.

Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut accused the historic district commission of religious discrimination when it rejected plans for an addition to an 1870s Victorian house near the Litchfield Green to create a synagogue and rabbis home. The commission said the 17,000-square-foot addition was too large and out of character with other buildings in the historic district.

Chabad Lubavitch officials disputed the commissions square-footage figure, saying it included the basement and attic. They said the footprint of the two-story house and addition would be less than 4,000 square feet and the total area of the project should be listed as less than 8,000 square feet.

The commission approved Chabad Lubavitchs plans to use the same 2,600-square-foot house for its activities without expanding it.

A three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit Court ruled that federal Judge Janet C. Hall in New Haven was wrong to dismiss the lawsuit. The judges said Hall erred by ruling that part of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act that bars government interference in religious exercise didnt apply to the case.

The appeals court panel, however, upheld Halls other rulings in the case, including her dismissals of Chabad Lubavitchs claims that its constitutional rights to freedom of religion and equal protection were violated.

The commission and other defendants seek to have neutral, municipal historic district regulations applied to religiously used real estate in the same manner as property used for secular purposes, their request to the Supreme Court says. In the Second Circuit, the law now grants religious land use applicants a massive advantage unobtainable by others.

The Litchfield Historic District Commission and the Borough of Litchfield asked the Supreme Court on Monday to hear the case. The move comes after the lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge, then reinstated by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan in September.

Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut accused the historic district commission of religious discrimination when it rejected plans for an addition to an 1870s Victorian house near the Litchfield Green to create a synagogue and rabbis home. The commission said the 17,000-square-foot addition was too large and out of character with other buildings in the historic district.

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Connecticut panel asks high court to hear synagogue dispute

Category: Synagogue
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