FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNION OF ORTHODOX JEWISH CONGREGATIONS APPLAUDS FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULING IN SUPPORT OF DAY SCHOOL IN ZONING DISPUTE

Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America applauded a ruling issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in favor of the Westchester Day School in its dispute with the Village of Mamaroneck, New York over the school’s expansion plans.

In a decision issued yesterday, the court applied the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (“RLUIPA”) and stated that the Village was improperly interfering with the school’s religious exercise by denying it permission to expand its school facilities. The court stated that Mamaroneck village exhibited “an arbitrary blindness to the facts” when it denied the WDS application to expand its facility.

Union public policy director Nathan J. Diament issued the following statement:

The Orthodox Union is pleased that the RLUIPA statute continues to function as we and its congressional sponsors intended – to insulate religious institutions from improper interference by local officials using land use rules as a guise for less honorable purposes. We are proud of our advocacy support for the Westchester Day School and will continue to play that role should the Village of Mamaroneck bring this case to the Supreme Court of the United States.

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