Posted on 07/15/2008 8:49:14 PM PDT by Coleus
A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled that fair-housing laws do not extend to permitting a Jewish resident to nail a mezuzah to a door frame, prompting an outcry from the Jewish community. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling on Thursday (July 10), decided the federal Fair Housing Act does not accommodate a resident’s religious requirement to affix the Jewish emblem to a doorway, if the ban on hallway displays applies to everyone regardless of religious beliefs.
The case stems from the condominium association at Shoreline Towers, a Chicago housing complex, enforcing a rule in 2004 banning doormats, shoes, signs and other materials in the hallways. The Bloch family sued after the repeated removal of their mezuzah — small encased biblical scrolls that are nailed to the entrances of Jewish homes — although the association later adopted a religious exception to the rule.
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America criticized the court’s decision, and may appeal to Congress to amend the federal law, said the OU’s Washington director, Nathan J. Diament. “We believe that irrespective of the facial neutrality of the condo association’s rule, that to ban a Jewish tenant from affixing a mezuzah ought to be viewed as a constructive eviction from their home and thus illegal under the Fair Housing Act,” he said.
Congress may consider amending the law to accommodate mezuzahs and other religious necessities if lawmakers are convinced a ban results in Jews not being able to live in a residence, said Howard M. Friedman, a University of Toledo law professor whose Religion Clause blog follows church-state legal cases. The Bloch family could also appeal to the Supreme Court, but it seems federal judges want to keep these cases in the hands of state and local authorities, he added.
“They probably didn't want every dispute between a condo owner and condo boards going into federal court,” Friedman said. “This ruling didn’t say it was a good thing to have that kind of rule, but it just said that the federal Fair Housing Act doesn't say anything about it, so it should be dealt with by state law.” In the last three years, Chicago and Illinois lawmakers have adopted laws guaranteeing tenants’ rights to affix religious symbols to their doors, preventing Shoreline Towers from reverting back to the original ban. “In this particular case, the issue is moot now,” Friedman said. “It may prompt other states to come up with their own laws, too.”
I’d bet a dollar to a donut that these buffoons wouldn’t tell a Muzzie what they could and couldn’t nail up in the hallways.
They should get hit by a bolt of lightning,neu...
Don’t believe that Russia is becoming more like the US so much as that we are becoming more like the Soviet Union. ;-)
They want to control us because they themselves are so out of control.
I so hope you are correct.
oh wait! nevermind.. LOL
? Did you read my post? Or are you a socialist?
I had a friend who lived in a prewar apartment complex off Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. Although most of the current residents were either eastern European, Latino, or Pakistani, you could still see the marks next to the doors where the mezzuzahs used to be (it was a largely Jewish building until said people died or moved to Florida, but I repeat myself, twenty years ago).
I misread your post at first! Yikes!
I thought so, just making sure. ;-) I often misread my own posts …
Ummm...have those who have been posting read the facts in the case. Of course, not.
This is not the ‘government’ it is a private condo association, they are allowed to make rules that pertain to common areas everyone has access to—the hallway.
After the family protested THE RULE WAS CHANGED to allow them (and everyone else) an exception for religious objects.
Soon I’ll be hanging a goat :<)
Not content with this victory the family sued for damages because of “emotional distress.”
That’s right, the case is the family suing for $ from other condo members after they have been granted the right to hang up their religious symbol.
If you buy in a condo building with association rules that tell you what color you can paint your door or what you can keep on it, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. The idea it’s constructive eviction because a Jew can’t live in a home where there’s no mezuzah on his door, sounds a bit far fetched. That’s akin to those Muslim women who claim Islam forbids them to take off their hijab for a driver’s license photo.
don’t mess with new yorkers... what ever happened to that art dealer in the hamptons who took on the cops and the city. she was one ball of fire..
i had one on my door jam for many years. it contains the word of G-d so i had no problem with it.
.
You’ve raised my concern ... while a mezuzah is usually fairly subtle, what happens when *some folks* want foot baths outside their doors?
I am soooooooooooo tired of sensitivity! AND litigating absolutely everything!
I know the custom is to have a mezzuzah on the door frame, just outside the door, but there is no reason it can’t be on the inside of the door. They can touch it on their way in, just as they would have done from the outside, which, in a condo building, IS community property. If it’s right on the inside, no one can tell them they can’t have it.
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