Church's Free Exercise and RLUIPA Claims Rejected by 10th Circuit

In Grace United Methodist Church v. City of Cheyenne, decided by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on October 25, the court rejected a church's appeal of a ruling that prevented it from constructing a day care center on property it owned. The church had claimed that the refusal to grant it a zoning variance violated its free exercise rights and RLUIPA, as well as its free expression, due process and equal protection rights. The court held that the City's zoning code does not amount to a system of individualized exemptions triggering strict scrutiny under the Free Exercise clause of the 1st Amendment. In determining the church's RLUIPA claim, the jury verdict which the court affirmed had found that Grace United's operation of the proposed daycare center was not a sincerely held religious belief.