3rd Circuit: Muslim Cop Can’t Wear Headscarf on Duty
A three-judge panel ruled unanimously Tuesday that Philadelphia’s interest in “religious neutrality” in its police force overrode the bid of Officer Kimberlie Webb, a Muslim, to wear her headscarf while on the job, the Legal Intelligencer reported.
In the opinion (PDF), Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Anthony J. Scirica agreed with the city’s argument: Without dress code enforcement, he wrote, “”the essential values of impartiality, religious neutrality, uniformity, and the subordination of personal preference would be severely damaged to the detriment of the proper functioning of the police department.”
The American Civil Liberties Union; the Council on American-Islamic Relations; the Islamic Society of North America; and the American Muslim Law Enforcement Officers Association supported Webb in the case, and an amicus brief was filed on their behalf by Dechert partner Fred T. Magaziner and associate John S. Ghose.
The lawyers argued in the brief that the district court ruling was based on “outdated and faulty assumptions about the necessity of strict adherence to uniform codes” and stated that the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles police departments routinely grant requests like Webb’s.
