Supreme Court will hear case of Jewish man harassed for holding prayer services at his home

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of Daniel Grand, an Ohio man who says city officials harassed him for holding prayer meetings in his home.

The court announced Tuesday it would hear Grand’s lawsuit after a federal appeals court dismissed it last year.

Grand, a Jewish resident of University Heights, Ohio, near Cleveland, found himself at odds with city officials in 2021 after inviting friends to his home for Sabbath prayer.

The prayer service, known as a minyan, requires at least 10 adults to participate.

After a neighbor complained, a city official sent Grand a cease-and-desist letter alleging he was violating city zoning laws by using his home as a “place of religious assembly.”

Grand applied for a special-use permit, but neighbors continued to object, saying the religious gathering would create traffic and parking problems.

One neighbor said, “I am not Jewish and I do not want our neighborhood labeled as Jewish.”

Even after Grand withdrew his special-use permit application, the city continued to harass him and his family, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges the University Heights mayor, a defendant in the case, encouraged Grand’s neighbors to monitor his home and report suspicious activity. It also alleges the police department directed officers to patrol his home and proactively search for code violations and that his home was repeatedly skipped on trash collection days.

Grand sued in 2022, alleging violations of his First, Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights, along with numerous state and federal laws.

“Every American has the right to host a prayer gathering in his home, and he certainly doesn’t need a city permit to do so,” Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel John Bursch, who represents Grand, said.

“The city’s actions underscore a troubling trend of weaponizing zoning laws against people of faith while allowing other gatherings of the same size, like book clubs or poker nights, to meet without issue. We’re pleased the Supreme Court will hear this case.”