The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of an Orthodox Jewish man from Ohio who says his city government spent years harassing him simply for hosting a prayer group in his own home.
Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew who has lived in University Heights, Ohio, a small suburb east of Cleveland, since 2019, ran into trouble with local officials in January 2021 when he emailed roughly a dozen friends and neighbors inviting them to join a minyan at his home for the coming Shabbat. Before the prayer gathering could even take place, a neighbor alerted the mayor's office, and the city's then leadership sent Grand a cease-and-desist order accusing him of operating an illegal place of religious assembly. According to the lawsuit, then-Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan told Grand he could not hold any religious gathering in his home without a special-use permit under the city's zoning code.
Grand tried to comply and applied for the permit, only to discover that the process was designed for actual churches, temples and large institutional religious uses, not a spare room in a private home, and that obtaining it would have effectively barred him and his family from living there. When the matter reached a public hearing, neighbors submitted letters opposing the permit, with one declaring outright, "I am not Jewish, and I do not want our neighborhood labeled as Jewish."
Grand alleges the harassment escalated well beyond the permit dispute. His attorneys say city officials ordered police to conduct drive-bys of his home and encouraged neighbors to report visitors, while the city stopped collecting his trash for weeks, issued unfounded property violations and withheld his certificate of occupancy and tax abatements. Facing what he saw as an inevitably hostile second public hearing, Grand withdrew his permit application and filed suit in September 2022.
Both a federal district court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against him, holding that he could not sue until he had exhausted the city's permitting process, even though completing that process would have meant he could no longer live in his own home. Represented by Alliance Defending Freedom and the law firm Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, Grand petitioned the Supreme Court in February to revive his case, and the justices agreed this week to hear it.
ADF Senior Counsel John Bursch, who is arguing the case, said every American has the right to host a prayer gathering in his home and does not need a city permit to do so. He argued the case reflects a broader pattern of zoning laws being used against people of faith while similar gatherings, like book clubs or poker nights, face no such requirement.
The city, now under Mayor Michele Weiss, disputes Grand's account. In a statement, officials said Grand abandoned the permitting process before the Planning Commission reached a final decision, and that he was later told in writing that he could host a small prayer group in his home without going through that process at all.
It is not yet clear when the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments, though the current term runs through late June or early July. A ruling in Grand's favor could set a national precedent affecting how local governments regulate Shabbat minyanim, Bible studies and other home-based religious gatherings across the country.
