US Supreme Court to hear dispute over Catholic shrine in Kentucky — The Hill

The US Supreme Court agreed to hear a lawsuit by the Catholic church Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist over the denial of a permit to build a religious shrine in the city of Park Hills, Kentucky. The church, located in a Cincinnati suburb, planned to build a large grotto honoring the Virgin Mary on an adjacent plot, The Hill reports.

Essence of the legal dispute

The case will consider whether the denial of the permit violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The law, in particular, protects religious practice from zoning rules that create a substantial burden on its exercise.

The Park Hills zoning board initially allowed the church to proceed with the plan despite a local rule permitting certain types of land use only along arterial streets. Neighbors, concerned that the 39-foot grotto could worsen traffic conditions, filed a lawsuit. They argued that granting the conditional permit violated state and federal law.

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Previous court rulings

A state court sided with the church, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned that decision. The Kentucky Supreme Court agreed with the appellate court, stating that the zoning rule did not create a substantial burden on the church's rights because it could build a smaller shrine on its own property. The court also noted that the church knew about the restriction before applying for the permit.

In its appeal to the US Supreme Court, the church's representatives said that lower courts had misinterpreted RLUIPA and asked for clarification of the scope of protection guaranteed by the law. Lawyers for the neighbors, in turn, believed that the case was not suitable for such review. A decision in the case is expected by the summer of next year.