Recent Accomplishments Of The Housing And Civil Enforcement Section

Citation: Recent Accomplishments Of The Housing And Civil Enforcement Section
Jurisdiction: United States (federal)
Source verification: cross_accepted_sealed
Original Source: https://www.justice.gov/crt/recent-accomplishments-housing-and-civil-enforcem... ↗

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Town filed a motion for summary judgment, contending in part that the plaintiffs’ claims are not ready to be heard by the court because the plaintiffs have not gone through the full site review process and have not exhausted potential administrative appeals. The department’s statement of interest refutes these contentions, explaining that the plaintiffs’ claims are ripe due to the nature of the RLUIPA claims and the Town’s cease-and-desist order. The statement of interest also explains that RLUIPA does not require a plaintiff to pursue every possible administrative appeal before filing a lawsuit. On November 10, 2025, the court granted the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, finding in part that most of plaintiffs’ RLUIPA claims were unripe, and dismissing the unripe claims without prejudice.
On April 18, 2025, the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in The Summit Church-Homestand Heights Baptist Church, Inc. v. Chatham County, North Carolina Board of Commissioners (M.D.N.C.), a lawsuit alleging that the County violated RLUIPA by denying the church’s application to rezone several parcels of land to allow the church to build a new place of worship. Summit Church filed a motion for preliminary injunction, seeking an order requiring the County to approve Summit Church’s rezoning request and associated site plan. The County responded in opposition to the motion for preliminary injunction with a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing in part that the zoning decision is a “legislative act” under state law and that the Court therefore lacks jurisdiction under RLUIPA to grant injunctive relief to the church, requiring the Court to dismiss the complaint. The department’s statement of interest argues that the church has standing to pursue its RLUIPA claims and