In The Mendham Methodist Church v. Morris County, New Jersey, (D NJ, Nov. 27, 2024), a New Jersey federal district court held that Rule 5.6.4 of New Jersey's Historic Preservation Grant program violates the 1st Amendment's Free Exercise Clause. Rule 5.6.4 bars grants for "property currently used for religious purposes or functions." The Rule was based on the state constitution's Religious Aid Clause which says in part: "[n]o person shall . . . be obliged to pay . . . taxes ... for building or repairing any church or ... place ... of worship....." In granting a preliminary injunction against denial of grants to plaintiff churches, the court said in part:
The Religious Aid Clause does not "zero in on any particular 'essentially religious' aspect of funding.... Therefore, Rule 5.6.4 is not narrowly tailored. It states that "[a]ny property that is currently used for religious purposes or functions is ineligible for Historic Preservation grant funding."... Plaintiff Mendham was informed in 2022 that it was ineligible for grant funding from the Fund because the application involved "the principle [sic] church building that is currently used for religious purposes."... Rule 5.6.4 does not limit funding to religious institutions to secular aspects of repair. Instead, it excludes the institutions from eligibility wholesale because they are religious institutions. Rule 5.6.4, as currently written and construed, therefore, likely violates the Free Exercise Clause.
The current construction of Rule 5.6.4 does not mean, however, that Locke [v. Davey] is not still good law, nor that any restriction on taxpayer funding of religious institutions is unconstitutional. Without deciding the issue, the Court notes that a different version of Rule 5.6.4 restricting mandated taxpayer funding of purely religious iconography or purposes may still survive under Locke. However, such a hypothetical, narrower provision is not before the Court.
