The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), joined by the General Council of the Assemblies of God and the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventists, filed a brief in support of Daniel Grand in the case of Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio.
“Religious freedom is not a privilege to be rationed by administrative gatekeepers,” the USCCB noted in its brief, filed on April 10 and published yesterday on the USCCB’s website. “It is a constitutional right that federal courts are obliged to protect as soon as the government threatens to burden it.”
The brief explained:
Daniel Grand is a Jewish man who opened his home for prayer. The City of University Heights responded by ordering him to stop in cease-and-desist letter. That cease-and-desist letter was not an invitation to negotiate; it was a credible threat of enforcement against constitutionally and statutorily protected religious exercise.
Two attorneys for the law firm First and Fourteenth prepared the brief.