Hires premier anti-RLUIPA advocate to argue for its unconstitutionality I was sad, if not surprised, to read that the San Leandro City Council voted 5-2 (with Mayor Cassidy & Councilwoman Cutter in the minority) to appeal the 9th circuit Faith Fellowship decision to the US Supreme Court. That’s exactly what I predicted Meyers Nave, the City’s law firm, would push the City Council to do. I was tickled, however, to read that they’ve engaged Cardozo Law Professor Marci A. Hamilton to represent them on this appeal. Hamilton is not only the country’s most prominent critic of RLUIPA, and of [Continue Reading]
Faith Fellowship v. SL case
(Note, to understand the particulars of this case please read A primer on the Faith Fellowship v. San Leandro lawsuit first). The 9th circuit court of appeals has just denied the City of San Leandro’s petition for an en banc hearing of the apellate decision against the City on the Faith Fellowship case. None of the 29 9th circuit judges requested to hear the case. That is of little surprise, the petition not only had no merit but was terribly and insultingly written. It was so bad that I’ve argued that it should be grounds to fire Meyers Nave, the law [Continue Reading]
A few weeks ago a federal appeals court ruled that the city of San Leandro might have violated federal law by not allowing the Faith Fellowship Foursquare Church to use a building that it had bought in the industrial zone of San Leandro as a church. Last week, the city asked for a rehearing in the case and the final disposition of the case will probably take at least a few months. If, as I predict, the city ultimately loses, it may have to pay damages and legal bills amounting to several million dollars – which will not be covered [Continue Reading]