Nascent Legal Trend. Can a Pipeline Violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act?

A group of nuns in Pennsylvania own land that the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline would like to occupy.

The nuns have taken the unusual step of suing the federal government claiming that the interstate natural gas pipeline violates their rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Its a show down between the 5th Amendment (private property rights home) and the 1st amendment (protection of freedom of religious exercise).

Judge Awards Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Builder Rights to Seize Last 5 Holdout Properties, Including Nun’s Land