Muslim Police Officers Can Keep Their BeardsMar 4, 1999 Muslim police officers in Newark, New Jersey can keep their beards, according to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals which handed down a ruling yesterday in Fraternal Order of Police v. City of Newark. 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 survive heightened scrutiny,” Justice Samuel A. Alito wrote. Accordingly, the Court ruled that Newark’s policy of granting medical exceptions but not religious ones was unconstitutional.
Becket Fund President Kevin Hasson, who argued the case on behalf of The Becket Fund, the ACLU and the Anti-Defamation League applauded the decision. “The Court makes clear that religious expression is as normal a part of life as any other. This is another installment in the return of common sense to the law of religious liberty,” Hasson said.
David Rocah, staff attorney of the ACLU also expressed satisfaction saying, “This decision is an important reaffirmation that public employees do not lose their right to religious freedom during working hours,” he said. “When the government grants secular exemptions to workplace rules, it should not be able to deny comparable religious exemptions without a compelling reason,” he 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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