IL Mosque Loses Bid For New Trial In Claim Against City

Last week, a suburban Chicago mosque lost its bid for a new trial in its failed attempt to purchase a church building over the objections of local residents and city council. (See background article.) In Al Salam Mosque Foundation v. City of Palos Heights, 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18237 (USDC ND Ill., Aug. 26, 2005), an Illinois federal district court rejected a series of objections raised by plaintiff to an earlier jury verdict. The jury rejected plaintiff's claim that its religious freedom rights under the First Amendment and the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act had been infringed by the city. The mosque reluctantly backed out of a contract to purchase a Palos Heights church building after it was unable to get written confirmation from the city that the property could be used by it as a mosque and school. The court said that plaintiff had not shown that the city itself did anything to interfere with plaintiff's rights.