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40 Rutgers L. Rec. 1 (2012-2013)

handle is hein.journals/rutglr40 and id is 1 raw text is: 


Rutgers Law Record


                           RUTGERS LAW RECORD

                           The Internet Journal of Rutgers School ofLaw | Newark
                                        www.lawrecord.com


Volume  40                                                                             2012-2013


A  NON-INTENT BASED CHALLENGE TO EXCLUSIONARY ZONING: WHY RLUIPA CAN HELP
         ONE   RELIGIOUS   COMMUNITY WHEN CONSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES FAIL*

                                      Charis G. Orzechowski



I. INTRODUCTION

        Does a religious community have  a remedy when  a municipality's intent-neutral zoning

ordinance acts to completely exclude that group from living within its borders by prohibiting the

only type of housing the religious group will use? That the zoning ordinance acts to discriminate

against this group, excluding them from living within the municipality's border by excluding their

housing, there can be little question. However, where the zoning ordinance is neutral on its face,

and no intent to either interfere with the community's free exercise of religion,' or intent to

discriminate against them in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment  equal protection clause2 is



*This note is dedicated to Dr. Gerald Benjamin of the State University of New York at New Paltz, who taught me to
value local government, Prof Patricia Salkin, Esq., Dean of Touro Law Center, who gave me the inspiration for this
note, and to my husband, who has more patience than any person I know.
1 For a discussion of why it is necessary to show interference with religious exercise on the face of the law, or prove
intent to interfere, in order to apply strict scrutiny in a constitutional 1st amendment challenge against a municipality, see
Employment Ditision v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 879 (1990); see also Prof Patricia Salkin, Esq.'s article, GOD AND THE LAND:
A HOLY WAR  BETWEEN  RELIGIOUS EXERCISE AND COMMUNITY  PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT,   2 ALB. GOVT L.
REV. viii (2009) (noting that courts cannot apply strict scrutiny to land use laws because zoning ordinances generally
represent intent-neutral plans where the government action at issue was neutral and generally applicableH).
2 Vill. of Arlington Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252, 265 (1977) (reinforcing in the context of
discriminatory zoning that a 14h amendment Equal Protection clause challenge can only succeed where petitioners are


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Volume 40


2012-2013

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