Alumni Ryan Gardner and Ryan Hiepler File Successful Temporary Restraining Order After Houston Officials Refuse to Restore Power to Jewish Synagogue
Pepperdine Caruso School of Law alumni Ryan Gardner (JD ’16) and Ryan Hiepler (JD ’22) filed a successful temporary restraining order against city officials in Houston who refused to restore power to a small Orthodox Jewish synagogue as Hanukkah approached.
In the religious liberty case Heimish of Houston v. The City of Houston, Gardner, counsel for First Liberty Institute, and Hiepler, an associate at Burke Law Group, alleged the city had refused to lift a hold placed on the property due to “a grudge” from a separate 2021 lawsuit against the city. For several years, the city is cited to have repeatedly exhibited antagonism towards Heimish’s use of the synagogue in a residential neighborhood for religious purposes. Recently, the synagogue suffered a significant malfunction of its electrical equipment that resulted in a loss of power to its property. However, because Heimish had been flagged for previous repairs and beautification that were not properly permitted, the city had refused to issue the necessary permit to restore the building’s power. The synagogue has since won its suit against the city and had its heat and electricity restored in time for the annual Jewish festival of lights, which began on December 7, 2023.
“Our clients are greatly relieved that they will not be forced to celebrate Hanukkah in the dark,” Gardner stated in a press release following the verdict. “We are grateful to the court for recognizing the urgent need to restore power and the burden that was being imposed on Heimish’s free exercise of religion,” added Hiepler.
Additionally, plaintiff and a founding member of the synagogue Michael Winkler shared, “We love our community and have been more than willing to work with city officials to get the power to our synagogue restored. Our congregation will be delighted that they will be able to join together again.”
Gardner joined the First Liberty Institute in 2022 as counsel after spending more than four years at a large Dallas law firm handling complex commercial disputes before both trial and appellate courts. Prior to working in private practice, Gardner worked in Washington, DC, as a law clerk to the Honorable Janice Rogers Brown of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Gardner graduated as valedictorian from the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where he served as the lead articles editor for the Pepperdine Law Review and the president of the Pepperdine chapter of the Federalist Society. While in law school, Gardner also externed at the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit for the Honorable Sandra Ikuta and worked in Pepperdine’s Ninth Circuit Clinic. He received his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with a minor in psychology from Harding University, where he graduated summa cum laude, and is a member of the Texas State Bar and able to practice in various federal district and appellate courts.
Hiepler joined Burke Law Group as an associate in October 2023. He graduated summa cum laude from Liberty University where he received his bachelor’s degree in business/managerial economics and then attended the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law, where he graduated in 2022. At Pepperdine, Hiepler was a founding member of the University's religious liberty clinic, where he assisted with drafting various amicus briefs at the federal circuit level. Additionally, Hiepler served as a judicial law clerk for the Supreme Court of the Republic of Rwanda for a term, where he helped resolve issues of constitutional and international law. He also attended the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, served as the symposium editor for the Pepperdine Journal of Business Entrepreneurship and the Law, and was a full-time research assistant for professor Robert Cochran.