WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a Connecticut commission accused of religious discrimination when it rejected plans for a synagogue in 2007.
The justices on Monday left in place a lower court ruling that said Chabad Lubavitch (khah-BAHD' loo-BAW'-vich) of Northwest Connecticut could challenge the decision under a federal law barring government interference in religious exercise.
Chabad Lubavitch claims its right to freedom of religion was violated when the Litchfield Historic District Commission decided a proposed 17,000-square-foot addition to a 1870s Victorian house to create a new synagogue was too large.
A federal judge threw out the case, but the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the lawsuit could go forward.
Chabad Lubavitch is a Hasidic movement within Orthodox Judaism.
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