Source: Chicago Sun-Times
http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/1884091,CST-NWS-mezuzah14.article
A federal appellate court on Friday revived a Jewish family's lawsuit against a Chicago condominium association that repeatedly removed a mezuzah from the family's doorpost.
Many Jews believe their religion requires them to post the religious symbol -- a small, rectangular box with a scroll inside -- at the side of their doors.
The ruling vindicates federal appellate Judge Diane Wood, a former University of Chicago Law School colleague of President Obama who has been on his short list for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Though criticized by conservatives as "hostile to religious rights," it was Wood's impassioned dissent in the case that the appellate court relied on to revive the Bloch family's claim of religious discrimination.
Wood's conservative colleagues on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals -- William Bauer and Frank Easterbrook -- had voted 2-1, prevailing over Wood on a three-judge panel, to dismiss the claim. They reasoned, in part, that the federal Fair Housing Act under which the lawsuit was brought can't be used to allege discrimination after a condominium is sold.