Today the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an evangelical church’s appeal of a New York City ban on worship services in public schools. The decision means that 60 NYC churches have one month to find new places to worship.
The Bronx Household of Faith had been meeting at a public K-8 school in New York City since 2002, but was recently turned down when it applied for another permit. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in June that the NYC Department of Education had the legal right to bar churches from renting school facilities for worship services. The decision overturned a 2002 ruling that had allowed the congregation and nearly 60 other churches (as of 2009) to conduct worship services in NYC school buildings.
The Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case means the Second Circuit’s decision stands.
CT previously covered the Second Circuit’s decision in the case and reactions from church-state experts, as well as other notabledecisions throughout the long-running case’s progression.
