Columbus, OH – On Tuesday, The Buckeye Institute filed its amicus brief in Grand v. University Heights, Ohio, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the property rights and religious liberty rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.

“From the Pilgrims secret meetings in Scrooby Manor, to John Locke’s theories of linking property and religious liberty, to James Madison’s belief that the free exercise of one’s religion is itself a property right, property and freedom of conscience have flowed together throughout American history and must be protected from government tyranny,” said Jay R. Carson, senior litigator at The Buckeye Institute. 

In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that, when it was enacted, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) recognized that private property helps guarantee religious freedom and that RLUIPA warrants the broadest possible interpretation in favor of those who use private property to engage in religious conduct. Buckeye further argues that our nation’s intellectual history inextricably links private property and religious freedom. In fact, the Northwest Ordinance extended “the fundamental principles of civil and religious liberty” to the new territory, which included what is now Ohio. 

Alliance Defending Freedom represents Daniel Grand in Grand v. University Heights, Ohio.

# # #