Voting Restricted to Males for Leadership in Religious Council that Receives State Funding: Constitutional?

Religious communities?  Gender?  Voting rights?  State action? 

A host of constitutional law problems are raised by the following:

According to the bylaws of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, a social service agency and community pillar that has received millions of dollars in government grants over the years, only those who meet the following requirements can vote for its leadership:

• Jewish and religiously observant residents of Crown Heights
• Married, previously married or at least 30 years old
• Male

Now Eliyahu Federman, a Crown Heights resident and recent law school graduate [of CUNY School of Law], is challenging that last requirement, saying he believes it to be unconstitutional.

The rest of today's NYT story is here.  

For ConLawProfs still looking for a challenging exam question, this might be a good place to start.

 

RR
[image: Suffrage Parade in New York City, 1912, via]