Texas Religious Services Rights Yield to Park Environmental Work

Religious services in Texas have no right to proceed as usual when they interfere with preservation work on public property, a federal appeals court ruled Friday in favor of the City of San Antonio.

Religious protections in state law are absolute but don’t apply when the government uses the least restrictive means possible in an environmental project, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in a split decision.

The case involves an effort to deter birds from nesting in certain areas in a 343-acre park, which the city says was needed before it could remove trees. ...