--I am familiar with your case. In fact, I am in the process of being retained by Rockaway to fight RLUIPA. The best thing to do here is to fight RLUIPA tooth and nail. Encourage your public officials to take a strong stance against it, and make it clear to everyone that you are not against religion, this religion, or race, but rather in favor of good land use planning in the best interest of the community. Regards, Marci Hamilton
Professor Marci A. Hamilton holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, where she is the founding Director of the Intellectual Property Law Program. She has been a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Center of Theological Inquiry, and Emory University School of Law.
Professor Hamilton is an internationally recognized expert on constitutional and copyright law. She is frequently asked to advise Congress and state legislatures on the constitutionality of pending legislation and to consult in cases before the United States Supreme Court. She represented the City of Boerne, Texas in a successful challenge to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a case that resulted in the Court's landmark decision in Boerne v. Flores, 507 U.S. 521 (1997).
Professor Hamilton clerked for Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the United States Supreme Court and Chief Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she served as editor-in-chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif.