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The ACLU of Illinois has filed an amicus brief in a case involving a challenge the expansion of runways at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.
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Some objectors filed a lawsuit in state court, alleging among other things, that the Illinois Constitution’s guarantee of religious free exercise prohibits runway expansion that disturbs the St. John’s cemetery. That case is now before the Illinois Appellate Court for the Second Judicial District in DuPage County. We filed a brief taking no position on the merits of the case. Rather, we argued that the religious liberty guarantee in the Illinois Constitution must be interpreted to require government to satisfy strict judicial scrutiny before it takes an action that would substantially burden the free exercise of religion. Strict scrutiny would mean that government must prove that its action is necessary to achieve a compelling state interest. Again, not taking a position on the merits, our brief explained why the Illinois courts should interpret the Illinois Constitution’s religious freedom right more broadly than federal courts have interpreted the parallel provision of the U.S. Constitution.
