Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jewish man living in University Heights, Ohio, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up his case after a five-year legal battle with local officials over hosting small prayer meetings in his home. The conflict began in 2021 when the city issued a cease-and-desist notice, claiming he needed a special zoning permit to use his residence as a “place of religious assembly.” Grand applied for the permit but dropped the application after finding it would have reclassified his home as a house of worship, forcing his family to move out. Grand’s lawyers claim the city continued to retaliate against him with harassment, police surveillance, and code violations. While lower federal courts have previously dismissed the lawsuit, Grand’s legal team argues that the Supreme Court needs to step in to resolve national inconsistencies regarding how local zoning laws are used against private religious gatherings.
