UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT

┐ CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE INTERNATIONAL, INC.; JERE │ PALAZZOLO, │ Plaintiffs-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, │ > Nos. 22-2139/23-1060 │ v. │ │ GENOA CHARTER TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN; SHARON │ STONE, in her official capacity as Ordinance Officer, │ Genoa Charter Township, │ Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants. │ ┘

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Flint. No. 4:21-cv-11303—Shalina D. Kumar, District Judge.

Argued: July 19, 2023

Decided and Filed: September 11, 2023

Before: CLAY, KETHLEDGE, and LARSEN, Circuit Judges.

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COUNSEL ARGUED: Robert Joseph Muise, AMERICAN FREEDOM LAW CENTER, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellants/Cross-Appellees. David D. Burress, SEWARD HENDERSON PLLC, Royal Oak, Michigan, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants. ON BRIEF: Robert Joseph Muise, Kate Oliveri, AMERICAN FREEDOM LAW CENTER, Ann Arbor, Michigan, for Appellants/Cross- Appellees. David D. Burress, T. Joseph Seward, SEWARD HENDERSON PLLC, Royal Oak, Michigan, for Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

KETHLEDGE, J., delivered the opinion of the court in which CLAY and LARSEN, JJ., joined. CLAY, J. (pp. 13–19), delivered a separate concurring opinion. Nos. 22-2139/23-1060 Catholic Healthcare Int’l, Inc. et al. v. Page 2 Genoa Charter Twp., Mich. et al.

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OPINION _________________

KETHLEDGE, Circuit Judge. Fillmore County Park in Genoa Charter Township, Michigan, includes a fifteen-station “Leopold the Lion Reading Trail”—with a series of large signs that, as one walks along the path, tell “the entire story” of Leopold. Meanwhile, on a wooded 40-acre property a few miles away, Catholic Healthcare, Inc. created a prayer trail with fourteen “Stations of the Cross”—depicting the story of Christ’s last day. That trail the Township chose to treat as the zoning equivalent of a church building—for which, the Township insisted, Catholic Healthcare must apply for a “special land use” permit. At considerable expense, Catholic Healthcare has submitted two such applications—both of which the Township denied. The Township also forced Catholic Healthcare to remove all the Stations of the Cross, along with a stone altar and mural, from its prayer trail.

In this appeal, Catholic Healthcare seeks a preliminary injunction allowing it to restore the Stations of the Cross, altar, and mural to its prayer trail—relief for which it moved in the district court some two years ago. The district court has twice denied that request, most recently holding that—notwithstanding all the events described above—Catholic Healthcare’s free- exercise and statutory claims are unripe. We reverse that holding and grant Catholic Healthcare’s request for an injunction. We also reject the Township’s cross-appeal.

I.

A.

Catho