[RealJustme]

NJ town rocked by charges of bigotry after rejection of mosque. A New Jersey suburb known for its tree-lined streets and stately, multimillion-dollar homes has been transformed into a battleground over both a proposed mosque and the free speech rights of residents who oppose the project.

Bernards, a township of about 27,000 an hour west of New York City, has been cleaved by controversy since 2011, when its Planning Board took up a proposal for a 4,250-square-foot mosque in a residential neighborhood known as Liberty Corner. The applicant, Islamic Society of Basking Ridge, is led by a former Bernards mayor and has filed a federal civil rights suit accusing members of the board of religious discrimination in ultimately rejecting the project.

Lawyers for the Muslim organization want to interview residents who spoke out against the mosque, and to review their email messages, social media posts and any other evidence they say may prove they were motivated by bias. The Department of Justice has also sent in a team of attorneys to investigate possible civil rights violations.

The seeds of the controversy were planted in November of 2011, when the ISBR purchased nearly 4 acres in the quiet neighborhood and then applied five months later to build the mosque, complete with a prayer hall and, ultimately, 107 parking spaces. The proposed mosque was denied by the Planning Board last December following numerous public hearings over the course of more than three years.

The city's mayor said she is troubled not only by the investigation, but also by a key federal prosecutor’s association with Chaudry. Caroline Sadlowski, chief of the Civil Division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, serves with Chaudry on Drew University’s 14-member Center for Religion and Cultural Conflicts.

I say sue their asses off and use the money to build a mosque 5 times as big as originally planned. They should also be required to build low income housing among their mulita-million dollars homes to house the Syrian refugees they supported being brought to America.