ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Orange County’s zoning and land-use practices to determine whether the county discriminated against the Orlando Torah Center by denying a permit for the congregation’s proposed expansion, according to a letter they sent to Orange County.

A Sept. 9 letter from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office states, in part, that the inquiry “will focus on Orange County’s zoning laws and practices regarding religious land uses, including its denial of the Orlando Torah Center’s application for a special permit, and whether that denial has … discriminated on the basis of religion.”

The Orlando Torah Center, a neighborhood synagogue currently housed in a 1,600-square-foot single-story house in the

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