By First Liberty Institute Richmond, Virginia (First Liberty Institute) — First Liberty Institute, Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, and Michael Best & Friedrich LLP argued today at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on behalf of The Summit Church after the Chatham County (NC) Board appealed a preliminary injunction that was granted in favor of the church in the district court. The Department of Justice, also participated in oral argument in support of the church. “Congress enacted the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act with overwhelming bipartisan support to protect individuals, houses of worship, and religious institutions from the very discriminatory actions displayed by the Chatham County Board,” said Ryan Gardner, Senior Counsel for First Liberty Institute. “We made our case today that the County violated the law and that the district court was correct to issue an injunction.” “Today we made our case that federal law was passed years ago to prevent these types of discriminatory actions that restrict churches from exercising their constitutional rights,” said Elbert Lin, Partner at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP, who argued the case. “The law passed by Congress was meant to provide the … [Read more...]