U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review of Religious Beard CaseOct 4, 1999 The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark. In March of this year the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals decided that Muslim police officers in Newark, New Jersey could wear their beards. The court’s unanimous 3-0 decision held that since the Police Department granted medical exemptions for officers with a skin condition, pseudo folliculitis barbae, it had to grant religious exemptions as well.
“When the government makes a value judgement in favor of secular motivations, but not religious motivations, the government’s actions must [be subjected to] heightened scrutiny,” Justice Samuel A. Alito wrote then. Accordingly, the Appeals Court ruled that Newark’s policy of granting medical exceptions but not religious ones was unconstitutional. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court let that decision stand.
Becket Fund President Kevin Hasson, who represented the police officers in the Supreme Court, said he was “pleased that the case is over.” “But I’m still puzzled about why Newark would waste so much of its taxpayers’ money trying to keep two good cops from following their religion,” Hasson added.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty is a bipartisan and interfaith public interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions. Relevant Cases
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