Supreme Court Review Sought In City Council Speech Limits At Meeting On Mosque

A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed on Dec. 9 with the U.S. Supreme Court in Youkhanna v. City of Sterling Heights. In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to the manner in which the city of Sterling Heights, Michigan conducted a raucous city council meeting at which settlement of a RLUIPA lawsuit was being considered.  At issue was the city's settlement of a zoning dispute with backers of a mosque.  City Council placed limits on the scope of comments that citizens could make during the meeting, and eventually cleared the meeting room when the audience became disruptive. (See prior posting.)