The U.S. Justice Department has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city of Sterling Heights, accusing the city of religious discrimination when it denied a permit to build an Islamic Center and mosque in 2015. Specifically, the city "violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 when it denied special land use approval to allow the American Islamic Community Center Inc. to build a mosque on five adjoining parcels of land located in the city," the government says in a complaint.