The city told a man he needed a permit to pray in his own living room. The Supreme Court just agreed that’s worth a second look.

Daniel Grand is an Orthodox Jew who lives in University Heights, Ohio. In January 2021, he emailed about a dozen friends and invited them to walk to his house for a Sabbath minyan, the quorum of 10 adults Jewish law requires for certain communal prayers. Orthodox practice forbids driving on the Sabbath, so a home gathering wasn’t just a convenience. It was the only way he could pray with a minyan at all. Before a single prayer was said, the city’s law director sent him a cease-and-desist letter ordering him to stop using his home as “a place of religious assembly” unless he got a special use permit.