A Tennessee judge says a federal court ruling for a Muslim congregation fighting to open its new mosque short-circuited his intention to stop construction. The Associated Press obtained orders filed Friday by Chancellor Robert Corlew in Murfreesboro.
Corlew wrote that he was preparing to order the county to stop mosque construction but the federal ruling superseded him. Corlew also stayed all his decisions in the two-year-old case.
Corlew had nullified the county's approval to build the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro after finding there was inadequate public notice of a controversial issue. He also ordered the county not to allow the mosque to open.
The mosque and federal prosecutors persuaded a federal judge Wednesday to intervene and clear the way for the mosque to open before Ramadan ends.