By 5 Towns Central Staff

WASHINGTON (June 30, 2026) — The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear the case of an Ohio Orthodox Jewish homeowner challenging a city ordinance that required him to obtain a special permit to host a minyan in his home.

Daniel Grand filed the lawsuit after officials in University Heights, Ohio, informed him in 2021 that he could not hold regular prayer services in his residence without first obtaining a special use permit. Grand had planned to host a small minyan of about a dozen participants.

According to court filings, Grand argues that complying with the permit process would have effectively forced his family to leave their home because the property would have been reclassified as a house of worship under local zoning rules. Rather than proceed under those conditions, he canceled the minyan and later withdrew his permit application.

Grand also alleges that city officials selectively enforced zoning laws against religious gatherings while permitting comparable secular gatherings without similar restrictions. In addition, he claims the city engaged in a pattern of harassment after the dispute began, including heightened code enforcement, surveillance of his property, delays involving his certificate of occupancy and tax abatements, and other retaliatory actions. Court records also include evidence of neighborhood opposition, including at least one letter objecting to the presence of a Jewish prayer gathering in the community.

Lower federal courts dismissed Grand’s lawsuit, ruling that he first needed to complete the city’s permitting process before pursuing his constitutional claims in court.

Represented by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Alliance Defending Freedom, Grand appealed to the nation’s highest court. His petition received support from several religious liberty organizations, including Agudath Israel of America, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the justices to hear the case.

By agreeing to review the appeal, the Supreme Court will now consider whether property owners must fully exhaust local permitting procedures before bringing constitutional challenges involving the free exercise of religion. The Court’s eventual ruling could have significant implications for religious liberty and local zoning regulations nationwide.

BREAKING: “Prayer Permit” case going to the Supreme Court!

SCOTUS has just agreed to hear the case of Daniel Grand, an Orthodox Jew forbidden from holding a Sabbath prayer meeting in his Ohio home without a “special use permit.” City officials later harassed him and encouraged… pic.twitter.com/WvITx6Mzq1

— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) June 30, 2026

He tried to start a small Sabbath prayer meeting in his Ohio home. The mayor told him he needed a special permit … then told neighbors to surveil and report on him.

No one needs a permit to pray. With our co-counsel, @Orrick, we’ve asked SCOTUS to hear Daniel Grand’s case. pic.twitter.com/uUaFZi7yOV

— Kristen Waggoner (@KristenWaggoner) June 9, 2026