{"id":26446,"date":"2026-01-22T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T16:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=26446"},"modified":"2026-01-23T21:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T21:02:12","slug":"oral-arguments-sensitive-locations-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/oral-arguments-sensitive-locations-suit\/","title":{"rendered":"Court of Appeals will hear argument in sensitive location lawsuit on Feb. 5"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Marcia Sowles, Office of Peacebuilding and Policy<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Thursday, Feb. 5, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., will hear oral arguments in an appeal for injunctive relief in the \u201csensitive locations\u201d lawsuit, \u201cMennonite Church USA et al., v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.\u201d The Church of the Brethren is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The suit challenges the Department of Homeland Security&#8217;s rescission of its three-decade-old policy restricting immigration enforcement actions at or near houses of worship. Staff from the Church of the Brethren\u2019s Office of Peacebuilding and Policy will attend the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read the brief, filed by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law, at <a href=\"https:\/\/mennoniteusa.us1.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=97f16d9c230780d6354d01572&amp;id=c2793e05b1&amp;e=f5433287ae\">https:\/\/mennoniteusa.us1.list-manage.com\/track\/click?u=97f16d9c230780d6354d01572&amp;id=c2793e05b1&amp;e=f5433287ae<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Learn more about the lawsuit, which is still pending, in previous Newsline reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMore than two dozen Christian and Jewish denominations and associations\u2014including the Church of the Brethren\u2014sue to protect religious freedoms,\u201d Newsline, Feb. 11, 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/suit-to-protect-religious-freedoms\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/suit-to-protect-religious-freedoms\">www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/suit-to-protect-religious-freedoms<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cChurch of the Brethren general secretary\u2019s declaration filed alongside dozens of others in motion for preliminary injunction of policy on sensitive sites,\u201d Newsline, Feb. 28, 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/general-secretarys-declaration-filed\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/general-secretarys-declaration-filed\">www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/general-secretarys-declaration-filed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJudge denies preliminary injunction in sensitive locations lawsuit,\u201d Newsline, April 16, 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/judge-denies-preliminary-injunction\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/judge-denies-preliminary-injunction\">www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/judge-denies-preliminary-injunction<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOffice of Peacebuilding and Policy shares update on Mennonite USA v. DHS,\u201d Newsline, Sept. 26, 2025, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/update-on-mennonite-usa-v-dhs\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/update-on-mennonite-usa-v-dhs\">www.brethren.org\/news\/2025\/update-on-mennonite-usa-v-dhs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">#MissionAndMinistryBoard #StrategicPlan #RacialJustice #LoveOurNeighbors #Discipleship #NewTestamentGiving<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;-<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts is-layout-flow wp-block-latest-posts-is-layout-flow\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/general-secretary-signs-statement\/\">General secretary signs statement on Christian presence in the Middle East<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/el-secretario-general-firma\/\">El secretario general firma una declaraci\u00f3n sobre la presencia cristiana en Oriente Medio.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/sekrete-jeneral-la-siyen\/\">Sekret\u00e8 Jeneral la siyen yon deklarasyon sou prezans kretyen nan Mwayen Oryan an<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/meeting-at-the-margins-worship-resources\/\">\u2018Meeting at the Margins\u2019 Advent worship resources focus on the Holy Family and migrants today<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/los-recursos-liturgicos-de-adviento\/\">Los recursos lit\u00fargicos de Adviento \u00abEncuentro en los m\u00e1rgenes\u00bb se centran en la Sagrada Familia y los migrantes de hoy.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, Feb. 5, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, D.C., will hear opening oral arguments in an appeal for injunctive relief in the \u201csensitive locations\u201d lawsuit, \u201cMennonite Church USA et al., v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, et al.\u201d The Church of the Brethren is a plaintiff in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"yes","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1703],"tags":[3203,3291,3591,3593,1340,3595,3594,3214],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-26446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-of-the-brethren-newsline","tag-lawsuit","tag-marcia-sowles","tag-mennonite-church-usa-et-al","tag-mennonite-church-usa-vs-dhs","tag-office-of-peacebuilding-and-policy","tag-religious-freedom-lawsuit","tag-sensitive-locations-lawsuit","tag-impact"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26446"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26451,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26446\/revisions\/26451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26446"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=26446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}