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St. Timothy's Episcopal Church v. City of Brookings (D. Or.)

Church Serving Food

Consistent with its Christian faith, St. Timothy’s has long served those in need by providing meals to the hungry in Brookings, Oregon. The City previously approved the church’s charitable offerings. But after neighbors complained to the City Council, the government claimed that the church’s meal service violated the local zoning code and adopted a new ordinance that permitted meal services no more than twice a week.

St. Timothy’s thus faced a choice: comply with the ordinance by limiting its religious exercise of providing meals to those in need, or risk facing an enforcement action by continuing this critical ministry. St. Timothy’s challenged that coercive choice under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic and Casey Nokes of Cable Huston LLP filed an amicus brief in support of St. Timothy’s, urging the court to protect the church’s freedom to feed the hungry. Our brief demonstrates that RLUIPA prohibits local governments from coercing religious organizations to violate their beliefs by offering sweeping protection for religious exercise against discrimination in the land-use context. The brief explains that Congress enacted RLUIPA in direct response to evidence of repeated discrimination—often prompted by the complaints of other neighborhood residents—against religious ministries exactly like St. Timothy’s.

In 2024, the district court granted St. Timothy’s motion for summary judgment, reasoning that the City’s ordinance violated RLUIPA. The court agreed that the City substantially burdened the Church’s religious exercise and concluded that the City failed to identify a compelling interest that could justify this impermissible discrimination.

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Court Decision

Trial Court (U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon)