Posted on 05/20/2020 1:24:16 PM PDT by Trump.Deplorable
JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ – The Jackson Township governing body, including Mayor Michael Reina and other members of the Jackson Township Council and Jackson Township Planning Board were served today with a federal lawsuit, signed by U.S. Attorney General William Barr. In recent months, two members of the council have resigned over the impending suit. Barry Calogero, a Trump administration appointee with the U.S.D.A and Robert Nixon, a New Jersey State Police PBA lobbyist. Both Calogero and Nixon resigned their duties as elected officials in recent months ahead of the DOJ lawsuit.
A release was issued by the Department of Justice:
The Justice Department today announced that it filed a lawsuit against Jackson Township, New Jersey, and the township planning board alleging they implemented zoning ordinances that intentionally restrict the operation of religious schools and housing associated with such schools, including religious boarding schools known as yeshivas, required by the Orthodox Jewish community.
The complaint alleges that the township passed two ordinances, and the planning board applied those ordinances in a manner that discriminated against the Orthodox Jewish community, in violation of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA) and the Fair Housing Act (FHA). Both ordinances expressly prohibit dormitories throughout Jackson, making it impossible for religious boarding schools such as Orthodox Jewish yeshivas to establish there. Although Jackson passed these ordinances to prevent dormitories anywhere in Jackson, the planning board has since approved, without requiring a variance, the plans for two nonreligious projects with dormitory-type housing.
“Religious discrimination has no place in our society and runs counter to the founding principles of our nation,” U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said. “No religious community should ever face unlawful barriers or be singled out for inferior treatment. This complaint reflects our continued commitment to combat discrimination and unequal treatment.”
“Using zoning laws to target Orthodox Jewish individuals for intentional discrimination and exclude them from a community is illegal and utterly incompatible with this Nation’s values,” Eric Dreiband, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said. “Let me be clear. The Department of Justice will use the full force of its authority to stop such anti-Semitic conduct and prevent its recurrence.”
The complaint also alleges that the township and planning board enacted the ordinances with respect to religious dormitories against a backdrop of extreme animus by [some] Jackson residents and township decision-makers toward the Orthodox Jewish community and a movement by residents to keep Orthodox Jewish community members from settling in Jackson. The complaint alleges that the township and planning board’s actions towards the Orthodox Jewish community violate RLUIPA’s non-discrimination and equal terms provisions, as well as the FHA.
RLUIPA is a federal law that protects religious institutions from unduly burdensome or discriminatory land use regulations. In June 2018, the Justice Department announced its Place to Worship Initiative, which focuses on RLUIPA’s provisions that protect the rights of houses of worship and other religious institutions to worship on their land. More information is available at www.justice.gov/crt/placetoworship
In July 2018, the Department of Justice announced the formation of the Religious Liberty Task Force. The Task Force brings together department components to coordinate their work on religious liberty litigation and policy, and to implement the Attorney General’s 2017 Religious Liberty Guidance.
Individuals who believe they have been subjected to discrimination in land use or zoning decisions may contact the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Hotline at (855) 281-3339 or the Civil Rights Division Housing and Civil Enforcement Section at (800) 896-7743, or through the U.S. Attorney’s civil rights complaint portal or the complaint portal on the Place to Worship Initiative website. Information about RLUIPA, including questions and answers about the law and other documents, may be found at http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/hce/rluipaexplain.php
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Horan Florio of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Civil Rights Unit, and Trial Attorney Beth Frank, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Housing and Civil Enforcement Section.
How about aiming a little higher, AG Barr?????
Jackson Township has been under Federal Investigation for a few years now.
Baby steps......
how about all the other states conducting religious discrimination? There are many Mr Barr- make an announcement that you are coming after those states if they don’t cease and desist immediately-
As matt04 (I think that was his handle) said “If it’s good enough for people to be in Walmart with precautions, it’s good enough for people to be in church with precautions”
I understand and he should, but the Jackson Township case was started I believe in 2017, this wasn’t overnight.
I agree but the IN-KY ELCA synod/bishop is being a titty baby and telling us we can’t meet until sometime in June...… irritating
States are violating liberties at the highest levels in these lockdowns and this is the best he can do?
They are not related, the Jackson Township case has been ongoing for at least 3 years, 3 years of investigation.
I think the other states will become future cases
Quit going after the peons. You’ve got bigger fish to fry and if you don’t start bringing some of these politicians and bureaucrats to heel, your going to sully the DOJ even more than it already is. Time to reverse that trend and start going after the big fish, from Obama and the Clintons down to Comey and other liars at that level.
?????????????????
The investigation started before Barr was AG. He’s had nothing to do with it. This is how long this stuff takes.
Barr didn’t start this investigation and he’s got no reason to kill it, the case should certainly proceed.
And I’m not a Barr fan, btw.
OK....Just didn’t get it....(I’m sometimes a little slow)...LOL
The law was broken but then there is the reality of what’s happening to Lakewood and surrounding localities.
This isn’t Alabama and the local yokels didn’t decide to “keep them Jews out”.
What’s going on down there with the Hassidic community is literally out of control and other Jews living there oppose it just as much.
Not to say this was legal. It wasn’t.
Jackson Township is ran by idiots
The idiots decided to create a law where dorms were prohibited in all zones in Jackson Township
They could have made this law better, but they went the stupid way
They allowed others to bypass the law without even needing a variance, a variance is where you ask the township zoning board to consider allowing you to do something to your property that is otherwise against the zoning laws. Or an activity.
Jackson Township has a history of enforcing the code against Jewish individuals but ignoring violations by non Jewish individuals
This includes, an email from a town council member to code enforcement regarding Jewish residents meeting at each others homes on Friday nights to pray. He wanted them arrested/cited for zoning violations since their private homes were not legal for religious services. However people of other religions were never called out for their at home prayers.
Jackson Township even went after a polish grandmother because she was given a commercial sewing machine from her previous employer, set it up in her garage and was mending/making articles of clothing for the girl scouts and local mothers. Some of the people she helped were Jewish and local busy bodies happened to see Jewish people going to her house, they blew her into code enforcement. Her home was located next to a busy large gas station and across from a 20+ store shopping center on a 4 lane road with a traffic light. She certainly wasn’t disrupting the “peaceful and tranquility” of the neighborhood. Code Enforcement required she get a variance, since her property was zoned residential, she went to the variance board and was denied. She eventually moved back to Poland.
The Mayor made a comment that if the proposed synagogue was a christian church, it would have had zero opposition from him and the board.
I didn’t say it was legal or smart. I said things are going on down there and it isn’t against “Jews” it’s because the Hasidic community down there is enacting religious controls over the towns. Or in some cases more like organized crime. Just reality.
No they shouldn’t have discriminated on religious grounds.
Just curious, have you made any observations about how Lakewood is being run. Because I believe that’s what resulted in the Jackson Township officials acting like idiots.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.