VICTORY! – Chabad of Key West v. FEMA

JCRL’s predecessor, Jews for Religious Liberty, served as co-counsel with Becket in suing the Federal Emergency Management Agency on behalf of the Chabad of Key West. For years, houses of worship were singled out as ineligible for the receipt of governmental disaster relief simply because of their religious status. Thanks to the pressure applied by this lawsuit, JCRL and Becket were able to secure an administrative change in this discriminatory policy, making national resources available to all institutions in need of disaster relief.

Then, on February 9, 2018, Congress codified this change into a law that President Donald Trump
signed into law.

This victory rendered our lawsuit moot, providing the relief we were seeking for Chabad of Key West and Chabad of Space Coast. The lawsuit therefore dropped on February 13, 2018.