Supreme Court of the United States · Official docket →
Tree of Life Christian Schools v. City of Upper Arlington, Ohio
Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, No. 17-4190 · judgment September 18, 2018
Before the decision, about 1.5× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for counsel with five or more prior petitions here, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a state or local-government respondent.
Questions presented
Petitioner Tree of Life Christian Schools is a private school that assists parents and the Church in educating and nurturing young lives in Christ. Hampered by multiple campuses in old buildings, Tree of Life purchased a large building in the City of Upper Arlington, Ohio. Though the City’s zoning code allowed nonprofit daycares, hospitals, out-patient surgery centers, periodicals, and offices as-of-right, the City refused to allow Tree of Life to operate the property as a religious school. After unsuccessfully requesting a conditional use permit and rezoning, Tree of Life sued under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act’s (“RLUIPA”) equalterms provision. The circuits are in disarray on the proper test for a RLUIPA equal-terms claim. The Sixth Circuit departed from RLUIPA’s text and the Second, Tenth, and Eleventh Circuit’s standards by requiring Tree of Life to show that the City provided not just a nonreligious assembly or institution with more favorable zoning treatment, but also that Tree of Life would serve the City’s zoning interest in generating tax revenue equally well as that secular comparator. In so doing, it sided with varying equal-terms tests developed by the Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits. The questions presented are:
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What is the proper test for a RLUIPA equalterms claim.
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Whether Tree of Life established a facial or asapplied equal-terms violation here.
Counsel of record
For petitioner
John J. Bursch
Alliance Defending Freedom
For respondent
Mark Landes
Isaac Wiles Burkholder & Teetor LLC
Proceedings
- May 13 2019Petition DENIED.
- May 06 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 5/9/2019.
- Apr 24 2019Rescheduled.
- Apr 12 2019Reply of petitioner Tree of Life Christian Schools filed. (Distributed)
- Apr 10 2019DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 4/26/2019.
- Mar 21 2019Brief of respondent City of Upper Arlington, Ohio in opposition filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of Islam and Religious Freedom Action Team of the Institute for Religious Freedom filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of Association of Christian Schools International filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of American Center for Law and Justice filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amici curiae of Civil Liberties for Urban Believers, et al. filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amici curiae of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, et al. filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of CatholicVote.org Education Fund filed.
- Feb 19 2019Brief amicus curiae of Citizens for Community Values filed.
- Feb 15 2019Brief amicus curiae of Parents of Students of Tree of Life Christian School filed.
- Feb 08 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 21, 2019.
- Feb 06 2019Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 19, 2019 to March 21, 2019, submitted to The Clerk.
- Jan 31 2019Blanket Consent filed by Respondent, City of Upper Arlington, Ohio.
- Jan 29 2019Blanket Consent filed by Petitioner, Tree of Life Christian Schools.
- Jan 16 2019Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 19, 2019)
- Nov 28 2018Application (18A555) granted by Justice Sotomayor extending the time to file until January 16, 2019.
- Nov 21 2018Application (18A555) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from December 17, 2018 to January 16, 2019, submitted to Justice Sotomayor.