LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. — A California district judge has declared a portion of the law aimed at helping houses of worship overcome land-use disputes unconstitutional. In a little-noticed ruling filed June 24 in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of California, Judge Stephen V. Wilson said Congress “redefined First Amendment rights” by passing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) of 2000.
The Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a motion July 8 asking Wilson to reconsider and withdraw his decision. The ruling — in which Wilson called the act “a blunderbuss of a remedy” — came when the Elsinore Christian Center sued the City of Lake Elsinore, Calif., after it was denied a conditional use permit to move into a former grocery store building.
The result is likely to be, as in this case, that many land use decisions will be invalidated despite being legitimately motivated and generic in effect, simply because the aggrieved landowner is a religious actor, Wilson wrote.
The case marks the first time that this law — the basis for dozens of land-use suits currently in the courts across the nation — has been struck down by a federal judge, legal experts say.
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