Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The motion argues that the suit violates HUC-JIR’s First Amendment rights and constitutes unlawful government interference in the affairs of a religious institution.
The motion, filed June 13, calls the lawsuit “an unconstitutional and illegal governmental assault upon religion” and argues the attorney general “has no role in dictating the religious affairs of institutions like HUC.”
AG Yost filed a lawsuit against HUC in April. The suit argued that HUC violated Ohio’s charitable trust law and its own founding documents stemming from the 1950 merger of HUC and the JIR. This required HUC-JIR to maintain a rabbinical campus in Cincinnati permanently. The suit sought to stop the sale of HUC’s historic Cincinnati campus and required a full accounting of the school’s Ohio-based assets.
The HUC-JIR board voted to shutter the Cincinnati rabbinical campus in 2022 and removed the language from its original charter. In the April lawsuit, Yost argued that the move misled donors who had given donations to support the Cincinnati rabbinical program and that HUC-JIR violated an Ohio nonprofit law.
Yost filed a lawsuit last year to stop HUC-JIR from selling items from the Klau Library.
In its motion, HUC-JIR claims the charter change was made in compliance with Ohio law and that the lawsuit fails to establish a legitimate legal claim. HUC-JIR claimed that they were responding to a matter of religious mission and responding to what it called Jewish demographic realities.
“These decisions were made thoughtfully and responsibly to ensure the long-term success of the institution and our ability to continue graduating strong Jewish leaders,” HUC President Andrew Rehfeld said. “The lawsuit improperly seeks to interfere in the decisions of a religious organization, and this cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.”
HUC-JIR also invoked a Torah passage in their statement: “God will come to his people wherever they welcome him.” It argues that responding to “Jewish demographic realities” is itself a matter of religious mission, and therefore beyond the state’s reach.
The school also filed a separate motion asking the courts to hold its consideration of the motion filed by the College for Contemporary Judaism, a new seminary founded by former HUC faculty and board members. CCJ’s motion asked the court to name it the rightful recipient of the historic Cincinnati campus, including the Klau Library, the American Jewish Archives, and the Skirball Museum.
The final Cincinnati rabbinical class at HUC was ordained in May on the anniversary of the school’s 150th anniversary.
Yost resigned as AG this week to join a conservative Christian legal group. The suit against HUC continues under the state AG’s office.