U.S. Department
of Justice
United States v. Village of Airmont (S.D.N.Y.)
On October 19, 2023, the Court entered a consent order in United States v. Village of Airmont resolving the United States’ complaint, which alleged that the Village of Airmont violated the substantial burden, nondiscrimination, and unreasonable limitation provisions of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The lawsuit alleged that Airmont had revised its zoning code in 2018 to discriminate against Orthodox Jewish residents and make it more difficult for them to worship in their own homes. The consent decree increases the amount of space in private homes that can be used for worship, removes restrictions that limited who residents are allowed to invite into their own homes to pray and eliminates the use of an arbitrary, drawn-out application process designed to delay and effectively deny permits for even minor alterations to private houses. Since 1991, this is the third lawsuit brought by the United States against Airmont for discriminating against the Orthodox Jewish community.
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