One more attempt to halt construction of an Islamic Center in New York City near the World Trade Center site has failed after a judge ruled the plaintiff lacked the standing to bring suit. TheNYTimes reports:
The former firefighter, Timothy Brown, sought to overturn a decision by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny landmark status for a 150-year-old building on Park Place that would be demolished to make way for the center.
…
In a decision issued on Friday, Justice Paul G. Feinman of State Supreme Court in Manhattan wrote that Mr. Brown was “an individual with a strong interest in preservation of the building” but added that Mr. Brown lacked any special legal standing on its fate.
The passion driven by opposition to this and other mosques around the country is sorely misplaced. The Constitution provides religious liberty for all faiths. Why would we want it any other way?
[UPDATE: Via Religion Clause, you can read the judge's ruling here. Here's a snippet from the conclusion:
In conclusion, the court reiterates that it acknowledges the heroism of all the 9/11 first responders, including Mr. Brown, and our collective desire to honor those who perished on September 11, 2001 and the surviving families. The court's decision is not an evaluation of the merits of LPC's decision to deny landmark status to the building, nor of the procedures it used. Nothing in this decision is a determination about freedom of religion, the current or future proposed use of the premises, or the manner in which the memory of the victims and the stories [*8]of the survivors of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks should be preserved. Rather, because the court concludes that Mr. Brown's allegations, accepted as true, establish only that he is an individual with a profound interest in preservation of the building, but not that he has an injury-in-fact as defined by law, he cannot satisfy the legal test for standing. Accordingly, the proceeding must be dismissed. ]
