Masjid Sadar Inc & Shameer Properties LLC v Borough of Sayreville et al (D.N.J.

On July 13, 2026, the United States filed a Statement of Interest in Masjid Sadar, Inc. & Shameer Properties, LLC v. Borough of Sayreville, New Jersey, et al. (D.N.J.), regarding RLUIPA’s Equal Terms provision.  Plaintiffs are seeking to build a mosque in the Borough of Sayreville for its growing Muslim community.  The complaint and motion for a preliminary injunction allege, among other claims, that Sayreville’s Zoning Code violates the Equal Terms provision, which prohibits zoning regulations that treat religious and nonreligious land uses unequally, without a regulatory justification.  In its Statement of Interest, the United States argues that Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their Equal Terms claim, because the Borough’s Zoning Code violates the Equal Terms provision on its face, for two reasons.  First, the Code requires houses of worship to obtain discretionary conditional use permits, while secular assemblies are permitted as of right.  Second, the Zoning Code subjects houses of worship to more stringent dimensional requirements than nonreligious assembly uses, without a reason for doing so.