Baltimore Archdiocese Can Tear Down Historic Building

On Tuesday, Maryland's Court of Appeals (its highest court) denied certiorari in Mt. Vernon Belvedere v. Dept. of Housing, ending attempts by preservationists to prevent the Archdiocese of Baltimore from tearing down a 100-year old apartment building in order to build a prayer garden. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Baltimore Sun reported that Paul Warren, president of the Mount Vernon Belvedere Association that was challenging the Archdiocese's plans, reacted bitterly: "It is disgusting that the archdiocese will succeed, with a Catholic mayor's acquiescence, in demolishing a key Baltimore historic asset.... [T]he archdiocese is using the church-state laws not as the shield they were intended to be, but as a sword to gain privileges none of the rest of society has been granted.