In its suit, the Justice Department’s civil rights division said rejecting the request for the permit made building the mosque impossible. As a result, the department argued, the Islamic center’s members “cannot engage in their religious practices to the degree and in the way they believe they are compelled to do.”
The department said no other suitable land was available for the mosque. It argued that the board made use of the pump-and-haul permit process as a means to bar a use that the board “did not want.”
The lawsuit asserted that permission had been approved in cases similar to the Islamic center’s.
A large crowd at an April meeting cheered the introduction of the motion to deny the permit. The supervisors rejected the permit by a 4-to-3 vote.
After learning of the Justice Department’s review of the matter, County Administrator John Egertson had expressed confidence that the study would show that the county was “completely compliant.”
He said the board “acted within their policy, and they acted fairly and consistently.”
https://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/lynch-doj-sues-virginia-4-mosque/