Vietnamese Buddhism Study Temple in America v. City of Garden Grove

ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION

I. INTRODUCTION

The Vietnamese Buddhism Study Temple in America (a/k/a Chua Quan Am) (the “Temple”) and its spiritual leader, Abbot Thich Dao Quang (a/k/a Tri Nguyen Thich) (the “Abbot”) seek a preliminary injunction against the City of Garden Grove to allow the Abbot and his devoted congregation to assemble and practice their Buddhist faith on the property the Temple owns in the city. After carefully considering the evidence presented by the parties, the Court finds that the issuance of a preliminary injunction, limited in scope and duration, is appropriate and necessary. The Temple has shown that the City’s zoning ordinance discriminates between religious assemblies and nonreligious assemblies. Specifically, the City permits nonreligious assemblies to operate as a matter of right in zones where religious assemblies are completely forbidden. One of these zones is the office professional zone where the Temple’s property is located. The Temple has also shown that the Abbot and his congregation are suffering substantial hardship by being denied their First Amendment right to practice their faith peaceably on the Temple’s…