Orthodox Jew asks Supreme Court to hear case after city allegedly targeted his home prayer group

An Orthodox Jewish homeowner in Ohio is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to revive his lawsuit after he says city officials targeted him for trying to host a prayer gathering in his home.

Daniel Grand said he invited about a dozen friends to join him for prayer at his home in University Heights in January 2021. After a neighbor learned of the planned gathering and complained to city officials, Grand received a cease-and-desist letter, and then-Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan told him he would need a special-use permit to comply with local zoning rules governing religious assemblies.

Grand initially applied for the permit in an effort to comply before he fully understood what the city was requiring. He later learned that the permit was designed for his property to operate as a house of worship and carried requirements including three acres of land, parking accommodations and other conditions. According to Grand, obtaining the permit would have converted his home into a nonresidential property, meaning he could no longer live there.

He told Fox News Digital that city officials never explained those requirements.

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"Basically, the city knew what they were doing," Grand said. "They tricked me. I felt like they lied to me, actually. And I simply tried to comply. So the next day, trying to be a good Samaritan, if you will, I went ahead, and I followed their advice that they gave me in that cease and desist letter, thinking I would just be able to have this permit. And it opened up into a very large scale negative event."

After realizing what the permit would require, Grand withdrew his application. He alleges Brennan encouraged neighbors to report activity at his home and that police conducted frequent drive-bys. Grand also alleges city services stopped collecting his trash for several weeks and that officials threatened him with "bogus" property violations in an effort to build a case against him.

Grand argues the city discriminated against him based on religion, saying officials would not have objected to a secular social gathering at his home.

"It's just absurd," Grand said. "I live here. It's my house. It's still my house… whether they're reading Oprah Book Club of the month or a Bible, the Oprah Book Club is fine, but the Bible is a problem, according to that mayor of University Heights," he said.

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Grand filed a federal lawsuit in 2022. However, a federal district court and a subsequent appeals court dismissed key portions of the case as unripe, ruling that he had not completed the city's permitting process or obtained a final zoning decision before suing.

Grand's attorneys, including lawyers with Alliance Defending Freedom, argue he should not have needed a permit to host a small prayer gathering in his home.

The city, now under the leadership of Mayor Michele Weiss, argued that Grand abandoned the local permit process before officials could issue a final decision and that he was later informed he could host the prayer gathering without a permit.

"Mr. Grand presented to the City Planning Commission during the previous administration," the city said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "After a public hearing and comment, the Commission tabled the matter for further proceedings. During this time, Mr. Grand withdrew his application. Soon thereafter, he then filed a lawsuit."

"Subsequently, the City sent Mr. Grand legal correspondence which stated that he was able to pray with a small group (a minyan) in his home WITHOUT going through the Planning Commission process," the statement continued.

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Mayor Weiss's office also told Fox News Digital that she is Orthodox Jewish, as are many others in University Heights, and that there currently are houses of worship in homes in the city.

Grand’s legal counsel pushed back on the city's defense, in comments to Fox News Digital, calling the city's current stance a "significant about-face" that only occurred after litigation was filed.

"We appreciate Mayor Weiss and the current administration’s sensitivity to the Orthodox Jewish community, and we recognize that this matter arose under the prior administration," Grand's legal counsel said. "But this case is about the harms already done and there is plenty of evidence to suggest what happened was wrong and unconstitutional."

"The issue was not merely a misunderstanding," the attorney continued. "The complaint details a broader course of conduct, including due-process defects in the Planning Commission proceedings, alleged ex parte communications, refusal to allow requested submissions, ongoing harassment and discriminatory enforcement, bogus violations, withholding of a certificate of occupancy, failure to grant a tax abatement like everyone else, attempted criminal prosecution, interference with City services, police surveillance-related conduct, and pressure on the surrounding community to monitor and report on Mr. Grand’s home."

Grand has now petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, which is expected to decide by the end of June whether to hear the case. His legal team is asking the court to clarify whether local governments can issue credible threats that chill religious exercise, force homeowners to a public land-use approval process for private prayer and avoid judicial review by later changing their positions.

"The Supreme Court hearing this case would be able to open up the federal judiciary to people like me who have been harmed constitutionally by local governments through the use of permit schemes and variances and all sorts of property zoning-related ideas that have been weaponized against people who want to pray," Grand told Fox News Digital.

Jonathan Gross, one of Grand's co-counsels, added that the case presents a vital opportunity to close a legal loophole.

"We expect that the Supreme Court, hopefully, will do the right thing and will resolve this in the right way that doesn't allow local governments to use a legal loophole to just run roughshod over people's constitutional rights," he told Fox News Digital.

Several faith groups, including Jewish, Christian and Muslim organizations, have filed amicus briefs in support of Grand's petition.