FFRF and New Jersey taxpayer David Steketee filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit Mendham Methodist Church v. Morris County, NJ on August 10, 2023. The Foundation previously litigated and won a lawsuit in 2018 when the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled that public money could not be used to repair a church.
On February 7, 2024, the district court ruled that FFRF and Steketee could not intervene directly in this new round of litigation because the court granted the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General’s separate motion to intervene and therefore FFRF and Steketee’s interests were now adequately represented by the AG’s office.
At issue again was the funding of churches through Historic Preservation grants. The plaintiffs in this case argued that previous U.S. Supreme Court decisions invalidated the decision that barred churches from participating in these funding programs and that the state’s Religious Aid Clause violated the U.S. Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause.
On July 19th, 2024, FFRF filed an amicus brief in support of the New Jersey Attorney General, who were an intervening party in this case.
On November 27, 2024, Judge Padin provisionally ruled in favor of the churches. This preliminary injunction allowed churches to request historic preservation grants from Morris County as the case proceeded.
FFRF and Steketee were represented by local counsel Paul S. Grosswald. FFRF Senior Counsel Sam Grover worked on the case on behalf of FFRF. This case was in the New Jersey District Court with the case number 2:23-cv-02347.
