Law Commons^™

The Price Of Landlord's "Free" Exercise Of Religion: Tenant's Rights To Discrimination-Free Housing And Privacy, Maureen E. Markey

Fordham Urban Law Journal

No precedent from the United States Supreme Court or other jurisprudence supports an individual, court-ordered free exerciseexemption for a landlord who violates the antidiscrimination laws while engaged in the business of rental housing. The fair housing laws are designed specifically to protect tenants from discrimination based on a landlord's personal biases. Although neither courts nor legislatures can dictate the morals of the marketplace, neither should they condone discriminatory acts that are clothed in the respectable shroud of the free exercise of religion. An exemption based not upon the landlord's own conduct, but on the landlord's disapproval of the presumed conduct …