The Priest and the Parking Ticket

A Catholic Priest was ticketed for parking in a hospital ambulance zone, and is now fighting the ticket. He parked there to deliver Last Rites to a dying patient after responding to an emergency call from a family member.

A generally applicable law that has an incidental effect of interfering with a particular religious practice doesn't run afoul of the Free Exercise Clause, and that seems to be the situation here. The priest doesn't seem to be proceeding on First Amendment grounds, however, but on "humanitarian grounds." He may have a point, but all things considered $115 doesn't seem like an unreasonable price to pay to ensure someone's passage into Heaven. It might be time for the patient's family to make a donation in that amount to the church.