DOJ to Host Events, Resources on Religious Freedom Law

​The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) is a multifaceted law. It protects the rights of prisoners to religious expression and the rights of houses of worship to be free of burdensome impositions by the government.
 
Protect The 1st has invoked RLUIPA in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to recognize the rights of a condemned man to have his pastor lay hands on him while he is being executed. And we have invoked RLUIPA in asking the Ninth Circuit to spare the long-acknowledged sacred lands of the Apache people from being uprooted by a foreign mining company.
 
These are just some of the important religious liberty cases touched by RLUIPA.
 
It is with gratitude, then, that we note that the U.S. Department of Justice is celebrating the 23rd anniversary of the signing of RLUIPA with a public awareness campaign, from online resources to special events around the country.
 
The first outreach event on RLUIPA will be held at Seton Hall Law School in Newark, New Jersey, on Oct. 30. This event will include remarks from officials from the Justice Department Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Jersey, attorneys, and religious leaders representing the wide spectrum of worshippers who’ve been protected by RLUIPA over the years.
 
“We are pleased to see Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Justice Department go the extra mile in making sure the public understands this important law,” said Rick Boucher, Senior Policy Advisor for Protect The 1st and former Congressman from Virginia.