{"id":3734,"date":"2026-07-28T09:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3734"},"modified":"2026-07-28T09:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T09:39:37","slug":"a-permit-to-have-friends-over","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3734","title":{"rendered":"A Permit to Have Friends Over"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Someone got wind of a dozen guys getting together at a neighbor\u2019s house and complained to the mayor of the town to \u201cput a stop to it.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Putting American Workers First in South Carolina<\/a><\/p>\n

I left out one crucial fact in this scenario: it was a gathering of Orthodox Jews, for the purpose of prayer. It seems obvious to me that this was the so-called problem. And we\u2019ll go over why, but first, the particulars.<\/p>\n

Below is the opening of a July 22nd Washington Post piece, entitled \u201cHosting a prayer at your house? You might have to \u2018cease and desist.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

The Supreme Court agreed last month to hear a case that asks a remarkable question: Can the government require a homeowner to obtain a permit before inviting friends to his house for prayer?<\/p>\n

[snip]<\/p>\n

In January 2021, Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jewish homeowner in University Heights, Ohio, emailed roughly a dozen friends inviting them to his house for a Shabbat minyan. Soon afterward, a neighbor informed the city about Grand\u2019s email, complaining and asking the mayor to \u2018put a stop to this.\u2019 Under the city\u2019s zoning ordinance, \u2018houses of worship\u2019 require a special-use permit. Acting on the complaint, the mayor called Grand regarding what he described as an \u2018urgent matter.\u2019 Later that day, a city official ordered Grand to \u2018immediately cease and desist\u2019 using his home as a \u2018place of religious assembly\u2019 until he obtained the permit.<\/p>\n

Although Grand maintained that hosting a minyan in his home did not make it a house of worship, he complied. He canceled the gathering and applied for the permit the city demanded. What followed was a contentious zoning process. More than 100 people attended a virtual public hearing about it, after which the city\u2019s planning commission tabled Grand\u2019s application\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And there it remained. In limbo. With lots of bureaucratic back and forth.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Mr. Grand has not been allowed to have friends over for prayer. (Keep in mind: this started five years<\/em> ago.) The mayor even admonished neighbors to snitch on Mr. Grand if they suspect he\u2019s having such a gathering so they could take him to court. Further, it seems the mayor had the police surveil his home. When the police showed up, Mr. Grand didn\u2019t wait for them to take him to court; he took them to court for, among other things, First Amendment violations.<\/p>\n

Since then, the court has been dormant in a variety of courts due to a bunch of technical legal arguments which didn\u2019t even reach the heart of the matter\u2014until those very technical issues caught the Supreme Court\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

The question is whether any of these bureaucratic hurdles or technical legal arguments constitute an undue<\/em> burden on Mr. Grand\u2019s First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

It seems obvious to me that they do, but I\u2019m not a lawyer. Nor am I a Jew, Orthodox or not, but I stand with Mr. Grand.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cIf a municipality can avoid judicial review by insisting [on this or that paperwork] what prevents it from extending that process indefinitely? \u2026 [It] ultimately incentivizes bureaucratic gamesmanship. More hearings. More requests for information. More procedural hurdles. All the while, no federal court can address the merits of the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

First, the easy \u201cwhat if\u201d scenario: if these were a bunch of Muslims, does anyone think this matter would have prompted that busybody neighbor to act? I\u2019m confident the answer to that question is \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Elon Musk\u2019s Double Header Last Week<\/a><\/p>\n

Secondly, who cares? Who cares what<\/em> Mr. Grand was doing with a dozen buddies at his house? As long as they don\u2019t cook meth or disturb the peace, who cares??<\/p>\n

What if they wanted to spin 45s in the living room and do the Twist? Or, heaven forfend, barbecue some burgers and drink some beer? Would Busybody Neighbor have acted then? Perhaps. If the 45s were too loud, the barbecue caught fire, or a bunch of cars cluttered the street.<\/p>\n

But I find even that\u2019s not credible, for a few reasons, not the least of which is that other neighbors have surely had lots of cars on the street lots of times for get-togethers for the winter holidays or birthdays or graduations, etc., and for some of those gatherings, they have surely made noise with music or barbecue or general frivolity.<\/p>\n

Did they<\/em> need permits? Of course not. So, it clearly isn\u2019t a matter of having cars on the street or cooking food outdoors or dancing to loud music.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that they were Jews. Orthodox Jews. Praying.<\/p>\n

The surest clue that this is indeed the case lies in how<\/em> Mr. Grand invited them: via email. Who knows who saw that email or why. (Did someone forward it? We don\u2019t know.) But it clearly, quickly, got to the neighbor, and that\u2019s when the trouble started; otherwise, how would this neighbor have known to ask the mayor to \u201cput a stop to it\u201d before it even happened?<\/em> And, crucially, how else would the mayor have known to stop it on \u201chouse of worship\u201d grounds?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the tell.<\/p>\n

It seems to me this is a layup for the Court: you can\u2019t tell people they don\u2019t <\/em>need a permit for a holiday gathering, but you do<\/em> need one to pray. Especially since so many gatherings are for religious<\/em> holidays.<\/p>\n

What if an email had gone out mentioning that a Christmas gathering at someone\u2019s home would involve holding hands and saying a prayer? Let\u2019s say it was sixteen or twenty people, not merely a dozen like poor Mr. Grand. What then? Would a hundred people show up for a town meeting then? I doubt it.<\/p>\n

What of a dozen Christmas carolers? Singing \u201cOh Holy Night\u201d? Would Busybody Neighbor call the police on them for worshipping on a neighborhood street? Yeah\u2026 no.<\/p>\n

Mr. Grand simply wanted to observe his faith, in his own home, quietly, with some friends\u2014while Jewish. Freedom to associate with others of your faith is allowed in this country, and one absolutely should not be burdened with having to get a permit to do it. The Court can and should get this one right.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Image created using AI.<\/em><\/p>\n

M. Walter blogs at www.mwalterwriter.com where you can find The Lunatic Left Series, a daily snapshot of Democrat words and deeds so you can see what they\u2019re up to without having to go hip-deep in their toxic brew. You\u2019re welcome \ud83d\ude09<\/em><\/strong><\/p>

Read more Ushering in public lewdness<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Someone got wind of a dozen guys getting together at a neighbor\u2019s house and complained to the mayor of the town to \u201cput a stop to it.\u201d Read more Putting American Workers First in South Carolina I left out one crucial fact in this scenario: it was a gathering of Orthodox Jews, for the purpose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1501,2],"tags":[1502],"class_list":["post-3734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-first-amendment","category-politics","tag-related-topics-first-amendment-religious-freedom-freedom-of-association-antisemitism-ohio"],"yoast_head":"\nA Permit to Have Friends Over - Interstate Logistics Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/interstatelogisticshubs.com\/?p=3734\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Permit to Have Friends Over - 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