The legal issues surrounding Seattle's First United Methodist Church gained national attention after Washington state's Supreme Court ruled, in 1996, that landmarks designation within the City of Seattle impeded the church's First Amendment rights. The case grew from an earlier local precedent at First Covenant Church, located at the corner of Pike Street and Bellevue Street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

The following article, posted in Preservation Seattle with permission of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, first appeared in the Preservation Law Reporter in 1996 and was updated in 2000:

Washington Supreme Court Rules Landmark Nomination of Seattle Church Violates Free Exercise of Religion

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