A conservative advocacy group founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson is suing to try to block a planned Islamic community center and mosque near ground zero. The proposal has become a fulcrum for balancing religious freedom and the legacy of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. The Washington, D.C.-based American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) said it filed a petition yesterday challenging the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision Tuesday to allow developers to tear down a building to make way for the mosque, which would be two blocks from ground zero.
The ACLJ represents Tim Brown, a firefighter and first responder who survived the attacks. The suit, an Article 78 proceeding filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, charges that the city violated its own policies and procedures in rejecting landmark status and exhibited “an arbitrary and capricious abuse of discretion contrary to decades of administrative precedent,” the ACLJ said on its Web site. It also charges, among other things, that “the city failed to properly review and consider public comments about the project, acted hastily in voting to deny landmark status, and failed to acknowledge the significance of the site as a historic and hallowed landmark from the tragic attacks of 9-11.”
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