Stay Granted, Cemetery Lives to See Another Day

Sep 30, 2005

At the close of business on September 30, 2005, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued an administrative stay of the Record of Decision (ROD) issued earlier in the day by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), approving the City of Chicago's plan to seize and desecrate St. Johannes Cemetery -- an active, religious cemetery that is more than 150 years old -- in order to expand O'Hare airport.

The decision allows the court some time to determine the merits of the motion for an emergency stay of the ROD, which attorneys from the Becket Fund, Hogan & Hartson, and Karaganis, White & Magel filed earlier today.

"Cut the ignition, Mayor Daley," said Becket Fund President Anthony Picarello.  "The bulldozers won't be going anywhere just yet."

The FAA's decision had elicited these comments from other Becket Fund attorneys earlier in the day.

“By approving the city of Chicago’s O’Hare expansion plan, the FAA has done nothing less than authorize the desecration of St. Johannes Cemetery and promote the careless disregard for the First Amendment and federal religious freedom law,” stated Jared Leland, Spokesman and Legal Counsel of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“To destroy over 1,300 gravesites simply to accommodate additional runways -- particularly when other alternatives are available -- is to fly by First Amendment principles and crash onto religious rights," Leland added.  "Now that the FAA has bowed to Mayor Daley and the City of Chicago, nothing will stop the City from seizing sacred ground for economic benefit.  In the past, Mayor Daley has acted when the courts are closed and the lawyers are sleeping, and we expect the same from him now."

“Fortunately, the federal courts -- not Mayor Daley or the FAA -- have the final say on their callous disregard for the First Amendment.  We are confident that when the court reviews this ghoulish, plan they will pronounce it dead on arrival," claims Becket Fund Director of Litigation Derek Gaubatz.

Resources & Documents

• Sept 30, 2005 Letter to FAA re Emergency Motion (PDF, 150.16KB)
• Sept 30, 2005 Order Granting Administrative Stay (PDF, 199.35KB)
• Sept 30, 2005 Emergency Motion to Stay FAA Decision (PDF, 2.57MB)
• Sept 29, 2005 Letter to President Bush (PDF, 50.22KB)

Relevant Cases

• St. John's United Church of Christ v. City of Chicago