No Right to Hijab in Courthouse Holding, Judge Rules
A federal judge in Los Angeles has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Muslim woman who asserted her right to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf while being detained in a courthouse holding facility.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ruled March 26 that unlike jail or prison, a courthouse holding facility isn’t a protected institution under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, the National Law Journal reports.
Yet, Judge Carter let stand Souhair Khatib’s First Amendment and emotional distress claims.
The NLJ summarizes a handful of other cases filed in the past year involving a woman’s right to wear a hijab in the courthouse. Among the recent cases was a woman who sued San Bernardino County late last year. Jameelah Medina claims she was forced to remove her hijab at a detention center when she was caught carrying an invalid ticket on a train. where she was taken after being caught for carrying an invalid ticket on a train.
Khatib’s case is one of first impression, with Judge Carter opining that “constant movement within holding facilities makes unlimited exercise of religious and expressive freedoms impractical.”
